


Collision In Time

by BlueHoneyBee



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, OC Characters in a relationship together, OC High Fairy, Someone's trying to fuck with the happy endings again, There's a new high fairy because they kicked Blue's shady ass in WMC, Time Travel, Wedding plans and other shenanigans, big shocker there, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-04-14 04:35:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 46,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14128197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueHoneyBee/pseuds/BlueHoneyBee
Summary: Sequel to When Magic Collides.All is well in Storybrooke, and Emma and Regina are happier than they ever thought possible for themselves. With their children and their true love and the town finally at peace, everyone is looking forward to what is surely to be the best wedding the townsfolk have ever seen.But when an unexpected visitor come from the future, begging for Emma and Regina's help, they have no choice but to put their wedding on hold. Because they both agree - nothing is more important than family, no matter when.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! And welcome to Collision In Time!
> 
> This fic is the much anticipated (by me, anyway) sequel of my first Swan Queen fic When Magic Collides. 
> 
> For those of you wondering: Today (March 28th 2018) is the three year anniversary of when I first published chapter 1 of WMC. So it’s only right that I waited for today to post this chapter.
> 
> I’m not quite yet sure of the frequency for posting new chapters, so for now I’m going to try and get it every Wednesday or else every other Wednesday.
> 
> In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter. And congratulations again on winning that poll Swen! I’m proud of this fandom!
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> PS: Quick shout out and massive thank you to my friend Laura for proofreading my chapters as of late. You put up with my insanity and I’m eternally grateful for it!

Regina moved expertly through the kitchen as she busied herself, thankful to have the time to do what she enjoyed on-top of everything that life demanded of her lately, demands which, for the most part, she carried out with a smile on her face and joy in her heart, as evident by the fact that she was humming as she worked, and a Disney song, no less.

"… _A girl worth fighting for."_ She sang, grinning at her 17-month-old baby as she sang the line of the, admittedly sexist, song. But that one line had always stuck with her about her daughter. She was, after all, a girl worth fighting for.

Amorie giggled as her mother tapped her nose gently, wiggling around in her high-chair. "Mushu!"

"Yes baby, that's the one Mushu's in." Regina giggled and kissed her daughter's head. The little red dragon's name was the only one her daughter managed to pick up when they'd watched the movie, and kept calling Mulan ' _Moo-moo.'_ Something the former queen figured wouldn't go down all-too-well with the real version of the warrior, who was now in charge of the lost boys with the help of the Merry-men.

"Momma!" Amorie squeaked happily and threw her toy pony at the woman lightly. Regina smiled and made clicking sounds as she 'walked' the toy back to her daughter happily, releasing it when Amorie grabbed it and turning back to her stove now that the water had finally boiled and she could continue her cooking.

It had been too long, she thought, since she had some actual time to make her family a big meal. Between making enough changes around the office to be able to work from home as much as possible, and raising Amorie, and, she remembered with a smile on her face, the wedding plans, things had been quite hectic. But it was Friday, the office closed up early because, well, no one was really useful the last two hours before a weekend, and she'd been well-caught up on work enough to relax…and by relax, of course, she meant cook! The chicken was in the oven, the cake was in the fridge, and the cookies cooling out on the tray. She was chopping vegetables for the salad when she heard the door open and shut.

"Mooooooooooooooom!" Henry called from the foyer.

"Geez kid, you don't need a fanfare to tell her you're home." Emma said.

"Yeah but if I'm too quiet she'll get startled." He said. Regina rolled her eyes as they appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, their eyes both going wide when they smelled and saw the fruits of all of her hard work.

"Oh my god." Henry whispered.

"Henry look away, I think this is the start of some kind of Martha-Stewart themed porno." Emma said. Regina snorted a laugh and shook her head.

"God you're so weird." Henry shoved her playfully and went over to Regina, giving her a hug. "Thank you for not making me weird like her."

"You're welcome dear." Regina said, kissing the top of his head, and then slapping the sneaky hand that tried to steal a cookie.

"Ow! Mom!" he whined.

"You'll spoil your dinner." Regina said.

"No I won't, I'm a growing kid, I could eat a monster truck and still have room for desert." He said.

"I'd hope you'd pick something a little more nutritious." Regina said. "If you have a cookie now you can't have desert and I know you want dessert."

"Oh yeah? What makes you say that? Not all your deserts are so hot, you know." he said with a challenging smirk.

"Two words." Regina said, standing straight and matching his sizing-her-up stance. "Fudge. Cake."

"I…" Henry tried, but he just couldn't beat that. He sighed and deflated, pointing a finger at her accusingly. "You win this round, Mills."

He turned on his heel and walked out of the kitchen, Regina watching him go with a victorious smile and a quirked brow.

"Wow…I thought I'd need to hide Amorie for a second there." Emma chuckled, pressing a kiss to her daughter's cheek before she stepped up to Regina. "Hey babe."

"Hello love." Regina's smile turned soft, her arms wrapping around Emma's neck as she pushed herself up a little bit on her toes to kiss the blonde gently. "Good day at work?"

"Uneventful." Emma shrugged.

"Good, just like I like my town." Regina joked. Her fiancee chuckled and shook her head.

"I don't suppose I could persuade you to round up the girls and cause some havoc, just to give me something to do on Monday?" she teased.

"Hah, not likely…maybe if I let Cru plan the bachelorette party though." The brunette chuckled.

The trio of women, formerly known as the "Queens of Darkness" turned out to be quite relaxed once they weren't being hunted down and used as tools for Rumple's evil plans. Thankfully he'd never actually gotten through into town. (much to Belle's relief, as well as a select few townspeople.) and when Mal, Ursula, and Cruella showed up, and saw that they had the chance to settle down and start new, they threw away his plan to sneak him into town and decided to try out the whole 'happy ending' thing for themselves, especially when they heard about Regina and Emma and how they'd found each other in the most unlikely of circumstances.

They'd managed to integrate enough, and when all the bad blood was put away, Regina found them to be quite a good source of fun and they'd quickly become friends.

It still freaked Emma out…only a little though.

Regina turned towards the stove to focus on her task again and Emma wrapped her arms around her waist from behind and rested her chin on her shoulder.

"Hey is that…chicken? In the oven?" she asked.

"Yes." Regina said with a smirk.

"And the stuff in the saucer? Your garlic dressing?" the blonde asked again, a small smile forming on her lips.

"Yes." Regina nodded slowly.

"And the cookies…and the fudge cake." Emma grinned, pressing a kiss to Regina's cheek.

"Where's your mind going Emma?" Regina asked.

"Do you remember that time I came over and my car broke down? And it was raining?" the sheriff asked softly.

"Yes…I do." Regina smiled widely, the memory and the resemblance of the past and present moments clicking in place.

"Is it me or…is that what started it all?" Emma asked. "Cause the next day I brought you lunch…"

"And we agreed to try and form a strong friendship for Henry's sake." Regina nodded.

"And then you tried to teach me how to cook." Emma chuckled.

"And then you got me pregnant." Regina teased. "Yes dear, I know what happened…I was there remember?"

"I know…it's just…" Emma shrugged. "A nice memory. Everything ties to it you know?"

"Well to be fair…I consider our beginning the day we met." Regina said. "I was scared as all hell and you looked like a nervous puppy."

"Yes, your thinly veiled threats were  _such_ a turn-on." Emma teased.

"Psht, please." Regina chuckled. "You would have if you could have."

"Well…yeah." Emma shrugged. "I would have if I could have."

"Good." Regina looked over her shoulder and kissed the underside of Emma's chin. "I would have too, for the record."

"Good to know." Emma said, teasingly kissing the brunette's neck. Regina giggled lightly and turned her head so that Emma could kiss her properly, their magic sparking inside of them like it always did when they kissed like this.

A loud baby giggle caught their attention and they both looked over at Amorie, who was beaming at them and clapping her hands. "Yay mamas!"

"We still got it huh kid?" Emma chuckled.

"Yes thank god there aren't any curses around to be broken." Regina chuckled.

"Hmm." Emma looked over to the brunette and kissed her again. "Wouldn't really care."

"Me neither." Regina kissed her back softly, Amorie clapping and giggling again. "Yep, still got it."

Emma chuckled and finally released the brunette, going over to their daughter and picking her up out of her high chair. "Hi baby."

"Hi bubbah!" Amorie repeated.

"She's going to start calling everyone 'baby' soon." Regina said with mild concern.

"Nah, she'll grow out of it." Emma rocked her playfully. "Right baby?"

"Bubbah!" the toddler said again.

"I'm gonna try and give her some more walk training." Emma said with a smile. "If she's steady on her feet by the wedding, maybe we could have her be our flower girl. It'd be perfect."

"Your mother's idea?" Regina asked with a smirk.

"No…mine, actually." Emma said with a shrug. "It's a nice thought isn't it? Having our daughter be part of our wedding?"

"A beautiful thought, actually." Regina stepped over to her two girls and pressed a kiss on each of their cheeks. "Get to it then!"

"Yes, your majesty." Emma said teasingly as she walked off.

"That's a good little saviour." Regina teased back, a smile on her face which, as of late, seemed to be a permanent fixture to her features.

She knew Emma was taking Amorie to the living room. They'd decided that the living room and Amorie's nursery were to be carpeted properly early on after the baby had been born so that there would be two places where it would be safe for her to walk and waddle around when she finally fully learned to walk without needing her mothers' support all the time. (Regina wanted to put soft furnishings all over the place, Emma told her that sounded a little crazy, and that a scrape on Amorie's knee would not be the end of the world. Regina was about to go off when Emma used the 'didn't you fall off your horse five times while you were learning?' argument and, for once in Emma Swan's life, she won an argument.)

What Regina  _didn't_ expect is for her to hear the sound of glass breaking a few minutes later.

"Uh… _Regina?!"_  Emma's panicked voice kicked her instincts in, and she shut off the stove before running to the living room like her family's life depended on it. She walked in to find Emma standing in the middle of the living room, with some kind of shattered glass laying before her, and Amorie nowhere in sight.

"Emma, what the  _hell?_ " Regina looked at her with wide eyes. "Where's Amorie?!"

"Well uh, you know that thing dad and I do with her where we throw her up in the air a little and then catch her?" Emma asked nervously.

"You mean the  _stupid, dangerous thing_ that I keep asking you two not to do because you  _will_ drop her one day?!" Regina demanded

"Yeah, that." Emma nodded.

"Yes, what about it?" Regina asked.

"Something tells me you don't have to worry about her falling anymore." Emma said, her voice a little high pitched in panic as she pointed upwards towards the ceiling. Regina lofted an eyebrow.

"What the hell are you t-" she said as she looked up, blanching at the sight above her and her jaw going wide.

Amorie was floating, maybe 5 inches away from the ceiling.

"Emma…what the hell?" Regina asked softly.

"I don't know. I threw her up  _once_ just to get her excited." Emma explained slowly. "I had my arms out to catch her and she just…didn't come back down."

"Uh…uh." Regina stammered, looking up at her daughter who was spinning in the air, sucking her thumb. When she caught sight of her brunette mother, she grinned wide and giggled. "I don't understand…levitating is… _really_ difficult to master! Even Rumple never did it!"

"Light magic?" Emma shrugged. "I think we should focus less on how she got up there and more on how the hell we're gonna get her down."

"How did the light bulb break?" Regina said, noticing that the light bulb was missing from the light fixture hanging overhead.

"I don't know! Her magic must have surged the electricity and it popped or something!" Emma said, looking up at her  _flying baby daughter_ again.

"Oh god…" Regina sighed.

"Okay, don't panic, we can get her down I just need a bed-sheet and two  _very_ long sticks and I can-"

"You are not making a  _butterfly net_ to catch our daughter! What if she suffocates in it?!" Regina said.

"I'm sorry, do you have any better ideas?" Emma demanded. Regina sighed and looked up, holding her arms out.

"Amorie, baby, come to mommy!" she said, trying to egg her daughter on to come to her. "Come on baby!"

"Weee!" Amorie cheered, ignoring her mother and wiggling her arms and legs to fly around.

"Man she's really got that breast stroke down." Emma said, mildly impressed.

" _Focus!"_  Regina sighed.

"Amorie…get down!" Emma tried the stern method. Regina rolled her eyes.

"Now you try to be the strict parent?" she said.

"You know it would help if you supported me in this." Emma said, hands on her hips.

"It would have  _helped_ if you listened to what I said and stopped throwing her!" Regina huffed.

"Okay, look, Regina, if the kid can fly, she's gonna fly." Emma said. "There's not much we can do short of tying a ball and chain to her leg."

"Urgh, we're getting nowhere with this  _pointless_ argument!" Regina said.

"Then stop arguing with me!"

"I'm not arguing with you I'm just freaking the  _fuck_ out!"

As soon as she shouted the expletive, another bulb broke, startling them both.

"Okay…" Emma sighed. "Our magic is freaking the house out, we need to calm down."

"This isn't normal…our magic shouldn't be doing this." Regina sighed. "At least…I don't think it should be!"

"Calm down." Emma said, taking a step towards Regina. "Just take a deep breath."

The blonde closed up the space between them and placed gentle hands on the former queen's shoulders and Regina drew in a long, deep breath and let it out.

"Okay." She nodded, opening her eyes and looking right at Emma.

"There." Emma smiled at her softly. "Let's get our kid down huh?"

She placed a soft kiss on the older woman's lips and felt a crack of magic.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Amorie cried as she suddenly plummeted down.

"Amorie!" both women cried and held their hands out, as if reaching for her. Suddenly a soft wave of magic erupted from both their hands and Amorie was floating down gently until she was seated on the floor, giggling and grinning widely at them like it had all been a big, fun game.

"Oh god." Regina sighed in relief, dropping her head into Emma's shoulder. The blonde's arms wrapped themselves around the shorter woman and held her tightly, sharing in her relief.

"Yeah…Don't scare us like that huh kid?" the sheriff said towards the toddler, who responded by making spit bubbles and giggling when they popped. Emma scoffed a laugh, Regina doing the same when she finally looked at her daughter again.

"Little troublemaker!" she said, nothing but affection in her voice. She stepped back from Emma and crouched down to pick her up. "You are just like your mama, I bet she would have been a  _terror_ if she had magic at your age, yes she would have."

"Hey!" Emma feigned offense, but just watched with a smile as her fiancee gushed and cooed at their daughter.

"Yay mamas!" Amorie clapped happily before Regina turned to hand her to Emma, who took her carefully and kissed her cheek three times in quick succession.

"Teach her to walk before you teach her to fly, huh?" Regina asked with a small smile, kissing Emma's cheek gently before she went back to the kitchen so she could finish dinner.

Honestly, this family could stand to have a couple of dull moments.

* * *

"Amorie is bathed and asleep, probably with a very full belly, thanks to you." Emma said as Regina stepped out of the shower. "Henry asked if he could stay up an extra hour, I wasn't going to let him…"

"But?" Regina gave her an expectant look. Emma sighed.

"It's Friday, he's fifteen, and…" a proud smile took over Emma's features. "He got an A+ on his English paper."

"And you want to reward him." Regina gave her a soft, understanding smile.

"I never got anything for doing good in school…but I usually always got shit for doing badly. We'd ground him if he spent too much time playing video games and didn't turn in his homework…why can't we reward him being so damned smart?"

"Oh alright." Regina nodded, kissing Emma's cheek. "Go be proud of your son."

"Pft, he gets it from you." Emma shrugged and turned, leaving the room, probably to tell Henry he could stay up and maybe gush a bit about how proud she was of him. Regina smiled to herself, her heart fluttering as she basked in the bliss that was her current life. Sure, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, but it was definitely an improvement over what her life had been like  _before_ her and Emma pulled their heads out of their asses. She chuckled,  _God_ had that taken forever.

An idea came to her mind as she held on to her towel, she bit her lip and rushed back into the bathroom to run a brush through her damp hair and threw the towel off before she turned the bathroom light off, dimmed the bedroom's down and lay on top of the bed just in time to hear Emma's footsteps outside the door.

The blonde opened the door, a smile on her face. "He said thanks and I told him to put on his headphones for the game so we could get some…uh."

She looked up mid-sentence to see her fiancee laying, stark naked, on their bed.

"Yes, get some indeed." Regina said, looking up at Emma through hooded eyes with a sultry smirk on her face. Emma stared, mouth hanging open like it was the first time she'd ever seen Regina naked. It wasn't of course (Indeed, there were many,  _many_ times that both women saw each other naked and they were all wonderful moments.) But Emma would never get over just how goddamned beautiful Regina Mills was…sometimes it still had to dawn on her that this gorgeous, amazing woman was all hers and had been for two years now.

A smile formed on her face.

"What are you thinking about?" Regina asked casually, like she wasn't laying naked and offering herself up like a delicious meal.

"How damn lucky I got." Emma said with a grin. "And…what I wanna do to you to show you how happy that makes me."

"Well then by all means dear, do it to me." Regina said, grinning widely when Emma pulled off her shirt and pounced onto the bed next to her, and then on top of her.

"Don't have to ask me twice."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2! Are you excited? I know I am!
> 
> Quick explanation time: As you know, when we last saw the Blue fairy, she was a shady hoe and tried to kill Amorie, and ended up as a not-so-magical version of fairy dust as a result (because our ladies are badass!)
> 
> Thus I bring in my second OC for this fic (Amorie being the first): If you recall, in WMC we briefly met a fairy named Isadora. She is now the 'High Fairy' (AKA mother superior, she basically took Blue's place.) She is known as the White fairy, so she will sometimes be called White, sometimes Izzy, sometimes Isadora. All three names refer to the same person though. The first few lines explain more of how she fits into the story. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the surprise this chapter has in store for you all ;)
> 
> Enjoy! please review!

It was Saturday morning, which was not inherently very special, after all they had one once a week. But not every Saturday morning found Emma and Regina hurrying to get to their appointment at the convent with mother superior, or…well…the  _new_ mother superior.

The White fairy had been the next in line in the hierarchy of fairies, only when Blue had infiltrated, decades ago if not more, she'd manipulated the information to gain her position of power.

That is, of course, until she made the mistake of going toe-to-toe with Emma and Regina. When the truth had come out about Blue and what she'd done, White stepped up, taking her place and cleaning up the mess that Blue had left in her wake. Which included a serious investigation into all the fairies in town to make sure Blue hadn't corrupted any of them or brought in minions.

When that was done, she got to work on making sure that the fairies did what they were actually supposed to do in the first place - help people.

But she was also, as a favor and a thank you, helping Emma and Regina with their wedding plans.

Which is why they were rushing into her office at 10:15AM on this particular Saturday.

"Sorry we're late." Regina spoke as she and Emma entered the room.

"Honestly Regina." Snow turned in her chair, both her and the White fairy giving the couple an amused smirk. "You need a new entry line."

"How about 'I'm not sorry at all because I had my tongue down your daughter's throat?'" Regina leveled the shorter brunette with a smirk and a quirk of her brow.

"Eh, kinda wordy." Emma chuckled as she moved over to Snow, who was now wearing a blush, and kissed her mother's cheek. "Hi mom. Hi…Mother Superior."

"Emma." The white fairy stood up, giving her another smile. "I keep telling you, you can call me White, or Isadora…or Izzy - which seems to be a hit with the kids."

"Izzy's cool." Emma nodded.

"Good, now come, you two. Sit, and let's begin." She gestured to the armchair and the spot on the couch next to Snow. Regina readily took her seat next to her soon to be mother-in-law, while Emma slouched on the arm chair.

"Sit up straight dear." Came the sound of three voices towards the blonde, who's eyes grew three sizes at all of them. The two brunettes and the fairy looked at each other before laughing, but Emma failed to see the humor.

"That's just weird." She said, adjusting her seating position.

"Moving along." Regina snickered, turning to White. "I think it's safe to assume that Snow has regaled you with all the details she has planned for  _my_ wedding."

"Yours, and  _my_ daughter's." Snow poked back verbally with a teasing smile.

"Who…is sitting right here." Emma raised her hand as if she were in class.

"Of course sweetie." Snow nodded to Emma. "Now, Izzy and I were discussing venues."

"The church is-" Izzy began.

"Pass." Emma and Regina both jumped in, surprising the fairy.

"Oh…uhm." She looked from one half of the couple to the other.

"As hilarious as it would be to have a  _gay_ wedding in a church." Emma began. "I have a… _troubled_ history with anything linked to the Christian church. No offense."

"None taken, I'm not an  _actual_ nun." White chuckled. "Okay, so no church…are you going to stick to the civil ceremony of this world?"

"No." Regina shook her head, Emma gesturing to her fiancee to take the reins on this one. "Emma and I discussed this…We want to use the traditional ceremony style used back in the enchanted forest."

"Without the…you know…consummation thing." Emma jumped in. Regina rolled her eyes.

"That was a  _joke_ Emma." She reminded the blonde.

"Hey, I've seen enough TV shows and movies to not be surprised." Emma said, raising her hands in innocence. Regina rolled her eyes at her again.

"No one's going to watch us have sex, now stop it." She sighed, getting a wide-eyed look from Snow, and giving her a look back that said 'what?'

"Moving  _on._ " White said sternly, trying to get some control of the discussion. "In that case, you are aware that you'll need some kind of elder authority to officiate."

" _Elder_ authority?" Emma asked.

"Like a high priest…or…well…the high fairy." Snow said, smiling and gesturing to White.

"Oh…so then you can do it." The sheriff said, looking to the fairy.

"Well if that's what you both want." White said, looking to Regina who nodded with a smile.

"I think it would be fitting." The former queen said.

"Well yes, seeing as it was you and the incident with Amorie that revealed the fact that we'd actually been without and  _actual_ high fairy for decades." White sighed.

"Shady bitch." Emma muttered under her breath.

"Yes, I always felt something off about Blue." White waved her hands as if she were shooing a bothersome fly. "Ah well, the past is behind us, and we move on in our present and embrace our future…your future, to be specific."

Emma and Regina smiled at each other and nodded, the blonde reaching out towards Regina who met her half way to join hands.

"So then, following a more traditional setting,  _usually_ a fairy officiated wedding is held in the woods, among nature and, to quote the ceremonial speech, 'in the light of the gods'" Izzy explained. "However, given that that was only really a rule in the Enchanted forest, and you two  _are_ a very special exception when it comes to just about anything traditional-"

"Hey!" Emma said defensively.

"She means because of who you are and what you've done for the  _town_ Emma." Snow said. "Put the pride flag away, being gay is nothing in the enchanted forest."

"It isn't?" Emma asked.

"In a land where unicorns  _are_ real, do you really think anyone gives a damn what's between your partner's legs?" White leveled her with a curious tilt of her head and Emma blushed a little.

"Sorry." She said, a little embarrassed. But Regina's thumb glided gently over the back of the hand that the brunette was still holding and all was right with the world again. "You were saying?"

"Yes, what I meant was that we would definitely make an exception for you if you were to choose a different venue…obvious limitations permitting." The high fairy finished.

"Obvious limitations." Emma repeated.

"Anything beyond the town line is out of the question." Regina stated.

"Unfortunately so, yes." White nodded.

"Well then, except for the woods, that leaves…" Snow began thinking. "City hall?"

"Gag." Emma jumped in.

"I concur." Regina smirked towards the blonde before she looked to Snow. "I'd rather not get married at my place of work."

"Should have thought of that before you made yourself mayor." Snow teased. Regina narrowed her eyes at her.

"Excuse  _me_ if I didn't implement  _weddings_ into my plan to destroy everyone's happiness." She retorted. But Snow just laughed, because as incredible as it was, they could actually laugh about all of that now that it was all in the past.

"Well then, city hall is out, you've already vetoed the church." White said, crossing some things off a list.

"And as much as we do  _love_ to hold family events there, I'm not getting married at Granny's." Regina shook her head.

"Aww but we could exchange french fries instead of rings!" Emma joked.

"Oh yes, or the  _rings_ could be made of onions, covered in batter and fried." Regina laughed.

"See, now we're talkin'" Emma said before she laughed along with her fiancee. Snow and Izzy just watched them with matching smiles.

"Alright you two." Snow said. "How about we be serious for a second here huh?"

"Sorry Snow." Regina said, composing herself easily, the light not leaving her eyes for even a second.

"It's alright." White said. "They don't call them  _happy_ endings for nothing."

"Ugh, too easy." Emma said, getting a smirk and a chastising look from Regina.

"So, barring all that we've discussed so far." White took the reins of the conversation again. "There is one place that we thought would be lovely for weddings but we never actually managed to use yet. It might be fitting to break it in for the town's most rejoiced couple."

"Most rejoiced?" Regina quirked her brow. "Snow and Charming are already married."

"While I mean absolutely no offense when I say this…" White began. "I have to say that ever since you two found each other, Snow and David…well…"

"We pale in comparison." Snow shrugged. "It's just a fact. You two are young, you're new, plus one half is the town sweetheart and the other half is the town…well…bombshell."

"Bo-Bombshell?" Regina looked from Emma to Snow, who both nodded.

"Have you looked in a mirror?" Emma shrugged.

"Yes, have you?" Snow asked. "This whole town is simultaneously jealous of both of you for having each other based on aesthetic alone."

"The added benefit of that, of course, is the fact that you're a  _beautiful_ couple." White said with a warm smile.

"So what you're both saying is…" Regina trailed off.

"…That everyone likes us because we're hot?" Emma said. Snow and the White fairy tittered a laugh and nodded.

"Well that and the fact that you saved this town from countless foes." White said.

"Countless times." Snow added.

"Okay." Regina gave a firm nod. "So we're the hot heroes of this town and everyone likes us as a result…I can live with that."

"Ditto." Emma nodded as well. "So what's this new place?"

"The author's mansion." White said. "It's got a beautiful ballroom and an absolutely gorgeous garden. Both are suitable for both the ceremony and the reception, and since no one's claimed it, it technically belongs to the town…and its council."

"And…I may have signed it over to the nuns back when I was mayor." Snow said, giving a sheepish smile to Regina who narrowed her eyes at the shorter brunette again.

"You neglected to notify me of that in our official hand-over." The mayor pointed out.

"It was less neglect and more…uhh…a favor to the fairies." Snow said again, her eyes glancing between Emma and White to plead for help.

"Well Snow, I would have never pegged you for a corrupt politician." Regina teased. "But I suppose since it does benefit me in some way, I can let it slide."

"You…can?" Snow asked.

"Well if I want to use the venue then it needs to be in the fairies' possession, and if I hand it over to them publicly just to have my wedding there months later, well then that'll hurt my reputation. But since  _you_ handed it over to them, the records being open to the public no matter what, well then it was out of my hands, and it would just be…well…rude of me to just take it away." Regina shrugged.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I don't trust a single politician." Emma said with finality.

"Trusted me just fine last night." Regina quipped. Emma blushed a little, so did Snow.

"Ahem." White said. "So…the mansion?"

"I like the idea." Emma shrugged.

"It is a lovely place." Snow said.

"And…we did have a moment there." Regina smiled to the blonde.

"Oh…right." Emma smiled back as the memory came back to her.

" _I'm in."_

" _You are?"_

" _I made a promise I intend to keep. Everyone deserves their happy ending."_

"Well." Regina smiled brightly at the blonde and squeezed her hand gently. "You certainly kept your promise."

"Let's have the wedding at the mansion." Emma said with finality.

"You can even have your honeymoon there, if you'd like…there's a charge for staying there of course but it's part of the wedding package." White offered.

"That sounds lovely." Regina nodded.

"Excellent." White said with a smile, jotting something down in her notebook, Snow doing the same.

"Now." The mother of one of the brides beamed. "We need to talk flowers."

Emma and Regina's eyes met, two sets of lips turned upwards, and two voices spoke unanimously.

"Orchids."

* * *

Regina made her way up to her front door, a smile on her face. The meeting had gone a lot more smoothly than she expected. Her experience with weddings not being a very happy one. But, with a happy sigh, she realised this one would be  _much_ different - and better.

A happiness she was more than willing to share with Emma, had the sheriff not needed to get to work because she promised her father the day off.

"I may also be behind on paperwork." The blonde had told her sheepishly. "And my boss is like, crazy strict, so if I don't step up I'm gonna be  _severely_ punished."

"I dare say you will be." Regina had teased back. "Shall we treat Henry and Amorie with dinner at Granny's then since we can't have the day together?"

"Sounds good." Emma nodded, kissing her cheek before she got out of the car and headed into the station.

Now she was entering her home, wondering how to spend her afternoon with her children while her fiancee was busy at work - or at least that's what she  _was_ thinking about, before she felt the presence of someone else's magic in the house. Magic that wasn't Amorie's.

"Henry?" she called warily.

"Upstairs." He said, his voice tense. Regina prickled immediately, dropping her purse and keys and climbing the stairs quickly - not running of course, but she was primed for a fight, her protective instincts kicking in.

"Nursery?"

"Yeah."

She marched, her heels clicking with purpose on the floorboards as she made her way through the hallway and to Amorie's room. The door was ajar, but not fully open. She pulled in a deep breath and pushed it open with one hand, her eyes going wide as she saw the image in front of her.

Henry was standing, his back towards her, with his hands in the pocket of his hoodie and looking straight towards Amorie, who was being held up in the arms of a red-headed woman dressed in green who's back was turned towards Regina as she stood in front of the crib.

"Zelena." The former queen's voice was dark.

"Hello sis!" the red-head turned, grinning at the brunette so brightly it nearly threw Regina off. Nearly.

"I'm going to say this once, greenie, and I promise you that failing to comply will  _hurt._ " The younger of the Mills woman warned. "Put. My. Daughter. Down. Now."

"Oh, don't be silly." Zelena said, rocking the sleeping toddler. "I'm not going to hurt her, I just wanted to hold her a little."

"Yes, because you have such a wonderful track record with babies." Regina sneered, summoning a fireball and holding it menacingly in the palm of her hand. Suddenly, Amorie cooed as she looked up, smiling brightly when she caught sight of her mother - probably awoken when she felt her magic come to life.

"Alright, let's all remain calm." Zelena said, carefully gesturing an innocent hand to try as calm her sister down. "Put the fire away."

"Put my daughter down first." Regina said through gritted teeth.

"I'm going to pass her to Henry." Zelena said calmly. Regina watched her like a hawk as she stepped slowly towards her son and carefully passed over his baby sister to him. He picked her up, cradling her gently and stepping back to his mother's side. Zelena stepped back, giving the family their space and holding her hands up in surrender.

"Is she hurt?" Regina asked her son.

"Seems to be fine." Henry said. "Does she… _feel_ okay?"

"Seems so." Regina said, blowing out the fireball in her hand and silently focusing on Amorie to search for signs of distress. But she was fine, happy even. "What are you doing here, Zelena?"

"I heard you had a baby daughter and I wanted to meet my niece." The redhead smiled at her. "Is that so wrong?"

"Considering that the last baby you held in your arms was going to be your victim?" Regina leveled. "Yes, it is."

"Ah…right." Zelena sighed. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to look past that?"

"Hah." Regina scoffed. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Regina…let's talk, shall we? I think there's some things I need to explain." The older of the Mills women stepped forward. Regina watched her carefully, narrowing her eyes at her suspiciously for a moment.

"Henry, stay up here with your sister. Don't come down unless I ask you to do so." She instructed. "And do  _not_ take your eyes off of Amorie."

"Got it mom." Henry nodded, stepping away from the door. Regina stepped to the side and looked at Zelena, nodding towards the door. The redhead walked, calmly, out of the door and Regina followed her, matching her pace, only two steps behind, and watching her every move. She shut the door to the nursery as they left the room.

"Downstairs." She said in a commanding tone. Zelena didn't say a word, simply followed her sister's wishes and walked down the stairs. "Cross the foyer and into my office."

Again, the redhead simply listened to Regina's orders, and Regina didn't know whether to be relieved, or worried that she was walking herself into some kind of trap. But she figured, better her than her children.

She was too focused at this point to hear her phone buzzing violently in her purse by the door. So she just followed Zelena into the office and shut and locked the door without a word. Zelena turned around slowly, hands up in her sister's plain sight.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone, Regina." She said plainly.

"Prove it." Regina challenged. Zelena raised a brow at her.

"Well how do you want me to do that?" she asked. Regina thought for a moment before she waved her hand through the air, summoning the thick leather cuff that they had used multiple times.

"Stick out your wrist." She instructed. Zelena did so, letting her sister approach her and wrap the cuff around her wrist, feeling her magic drain away instantly.

"Magic blocker…smart." Zelena sighed. "Though, truly unnecessary."

"You don't get to talk about unnecessary, little miss flying broom and monkeys." Regina said. "Now sit down and tell me what the hell you're doing in my house."

Zelena sighed, taking a seat on the couch as Regina moved to her decanter and poured out some cider in two tumblers.

"You're not going to ask why I'm not dead?" Zelena began.

"You've clearly never met our mother." Regina sighed. "This family has a penchant for coming back from the dead."

"Good to know." Zelena shrugged. "But I never died. I simply used an illusion to make the way I transported out of that cell  _look_  like I died."

"Great." Regina said, setting a tumbler down in front of the redhead before she straightened up and took a sip of her own drink. She remained standing in front of the fireplace, back leaning slightly against the mantle with a hand casually in her blazer pocket. "Why exactly should I care?"

"I figured I'd better start my explanation from the beginning." The witch said, picking up the glass and sipping a little. "Mmm…you do make good cider."

"So, you transported out of here in the creepiest way possible. What happened after that?" Regina asked.

"Well, I left town, and found myself without magic. Which wasn't entirely ideal when I still wanted revenge." Zelena said. "So I went to the only person in this world who  _can_ use magic outside of this town."

"The dragon." Regina stated.

"Indeed." Zelena nodded. "And I demanded he teach me how to use magic outside of the boundaries of Storybrooke. Which he refused to do."

"Shocking." Regina deadpanned.

"But he helped me in ways I could have never imagined myself grateful for back then." Zelena said. "He showed me…that I was wrong."

"You needed a centuries old dragon to show you that?" Regina smirked. Zelena rolled her eyes.

"Make your fun, Regina, it's alright. But I am serious." She said. "He showed me that…Well…He showed me the truth."

"The truth?" Regina asked. "That green doesn't look as good on you as you think it does?"

"No, silly." Zelena chuckled. "He showed me…what I  _really_ missed out on by not being chosen by our mother like you had been…He showed me your life."

Regina's jaw clenched tightly, as did her hand around her glass.

"I know, it does seem incredibly unorthodox, and I can understand that you might see it as a violation of your privacy." Zelena said. "But the fact of the matter is that…he promised he would help me by showing me the truth. He said that compassion would be the only way to kill my envy for you…"

"I don't need your  _compassion_ Zelena. Or whatever other word you may use instead of  _pity._  The truth is that I let go of that past two years ago, when my future came knocking." Regina said. "So if you're here to tell me you're sorry for how mother treated me, save it. The past is dead, along with her."

"Yes, it is." Zelena nodded. "And I could say that I was sorry for what happened to you…but even  _you_ aren't sorry for it because it lead to where you are now. That's not why I'm here."

"Indeed." Regina said. "Then why are you here?"

"Because I want to apologize for how  _I_ mistreated you…for how I let my own jealousy blind me to the truth. The truth is that we've both been burned by her, Regina, and we both need to heal from it and move on. You've already done it. And I have moved on from the pain she caused me. I'm here to make amends."

"You want to redeem yourself?" Regina asked.

"I wouldn't be the first one in our family to do so." Zelena smiled at her. "Amorie has Emma's eyes."

Regina rolled her eyes and threw back the rest of her drink. "So it took you two years to get through my life story?"

"Oh no." Zelena shook her head. "But after that, I realized that everything I thought was true was…well…a lie. And that my whole life had been so focused on that and my magic that I never really figured out who I  _really_ am. So I traveled, all over the world. Well, this one at least."

"Please tell me you didn't break into my house to try and convince me to join some crazy pyramid scheme to fund your travels." Regina sighed in exasperation, Zelena just laughed and shook her head.

"No,  _silly._ " She said. "Truth is I always figured I would come back, but I needed to be ready. And then I heard through a mutual friend on Emma's social media that…Regina, you're getting married!"

The redhead stood up a grin on her face. She came forward and, before Regina could stop her, wrapped her in a tight hug.

"If I take the cuff off will you please stop hugging me and try to kill me again?" the brunette said.

"Silly." Zelena chuckled. "Congratulations!"

"Well…thank you." Regina sighed. "You really came all this way to congratulate me?"

"Well partly." Zelena said. "I meant what I said, Regina, I want to make amends. I figured this was as good a chance as any."

"Well I suppose it makes sense…in the crazy sort of way that our lives can only ever make sense in." Regina said. She looked at the redhead, who gave her a hopeful smile, and let out a sigh.

"Okay… _fine._  You can try to redeem yourself…gods, if anyone knows what that's like-"

"It's you." Zelena nodded. "I know, sis."

"Please refrain from calling me that." Regina said.

"Okay…Regina." Zelena smiled at her. "I promise you won't be disappointed…and we can finally be sisters,  _real_ sisters."

"Yes well-" the brunette woman tried to say when suddenly she gasped, a feeling of external panic washing over her now that she wasn't so focused on Zelena. "Oh no."

"What is it?" the redhead asked, mild concern painted on her face.

A loud rattling and banging on the door interrupted them.

"Regina? Regina!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while since I updated this one. Originally when I planned on publishing this fic it was going to be after I finished Captain Swan (My SQ Pirate AU.) But then the poll victory happened, and well, you know the rest.
> 
> But now that that story is almost over I promise I'll be able to dedicate more time to Collision In Time. I'm so excited for the future of this fic and I can't wait to share this awesome journey with you guys!
> 
> Here's chapter three! I hope you enjoy!

" _Regina? Regina!"_

Regina pulled the door open, ducking in time and pulling Zelena down with her to miss one of Emma's, admittedly seriously improved, lightning balls.

"Emma!" Regina stood up and glared at her fiance.

"Get down Regina I got her!"

"Stop!" Regina slapped her already rising hand.

"Regina what the fuck?! I'm trying to protect you!" Emma looked at her with wild, panicked eyes. Regina rolled her eyes and lifted Zelena's arm up - the one with it's wrist still safely strapped with the cuff. Emma looked at it for a moment before she seemingly calmed down. "Hah! Guess my fiance already kicked your ass, huh Greenie?"

"I can see how you fell for her charm." Zelena said sarcastically towards Regina, who rolled her eyes.

"Indeed." She sighed. "Emma, what in the hell are you doing? I thought you were at work."

"I  _was_ but then I felt you freak out and tried to call you. When you didn't answer me I poofed over here to see what was up." She crossed her arms. "The  _real_ question is what  _she_ is doing here! I thought you turned her into wicked witch dust!"

"Illusionary magic is fun." Zelena shrugged.

"And annoying, though I must say you put up quite the believable act of dying with a flair of drama." Regina smirked at her sister.

"Thank you, you wouldn't have done any less." Zelena bumped Regina's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but what the fuck?" Emma asked. "Are you two… _cool_ now?"

"Okay, I think we all just need to take a deep breath and calm down." Regina tried gently. "It's all easily explainable really."

"Is it?" Emma deadpanned.

"Yes." Zelena and Regina answered at once.

"Okay…but-" Emma was about to say, an awkward look on her face when suddenly the front door burst open. Emma ran off, Regina and Zelena on her tail.

"Let me at 'em!" David's voice suddenly filled the foyer.

"Who's ass am I shooting this arrow up?!" Snow shrieked.

"Woah guys!" Emma tried to calm her parents down. "Stand down, false alarm."

Regina looked wide eyed at the three of them. "What. The.  _Hell._  Emma?!"

"I panicked!" Emma shot back. "Next time answer your damn phone."

Regina sighed and rolled her eyes. "You thought I was in danger so you called in team charming?!"

"Would you do any different if the roles were reversed?" Emma asked.

"Well…no." Regina sighed, stepping up to Emma and kissing her cheek gently. "It was a sweet gesture, unnecessary as it was."

"Thank you, it's nice to be appreciated." Emma smiled at her.

"Excuse me!" David interjected. "What the hell is Zelena doing here?"

"And why are we not shooting arrows at her?" Snow aimed her arrow at the former wicked witch.

"Oh." Regina snapped her fingers and poofed their weapons away, ignoring their looks of shock. "Honestly you two. As I was  _trying_ to explain to Emma, Zelena here, while originally faking her death with the intention of having a second round at trying to murder me and exact her revenge…"

"Runs in the family." Snow raised a brow at Regina, who rolled her eyes at her.

"…Actually ended up going on some kind of…vision quest. She learned the truth about my life and decided the feud was pointless. Then she…found herself backpacking through Taipei or something like that." Regina waved off.

"And now I'm back!" Zelena grinned. "And ready for us all to be a family!"

"Uh….huh." Emma nodded slowly before looking towards Regina. "And…you're okay with this?"

"Well it's not like I'm a stranger to wanting to redeem one's self." Regina shrugged.

"Yeah, fair point." David, Snow, and Emma all agreed in low mumbles.

"So we're all agreed then? We'll give her an even chance?" Regina asked, hands on her hips, the question more like a royal command.

"Yeah, sure, okay." They all mumbled with shrugs and nervous glances.

"Oh, wonderful!" Zelena clapped a couple of times. "We finally all get to be family!"

She ran up to Emma, wrapping her arms around her tightly and squeezing the life out of her.

"Regina. Your sister is hugging me." Emma said.

"Yes she is, dear."

"Regina. I find this disturbing." Emma stated again.

"Yes, I do too, dear." Her fiance answered, doing nothing to stop the hugging.

"Uhhh…" they heard coming from the stairs. Everyone turned to to see Henry standing there, Amorie still in his arms, Zelena still holding on to Emma tightly. "Anyone wanna explain what the heck is going on?"

* * *

"And this one's from Bali!" Zelena said as she presented Henry with a wooden mask of what looked like some kind of creature. "It's a mask of a mythological creature called a  _Barong._ It's meant to protect you from evil spirits!"

"Because two mothers who can do magic just isn't enough." Regina chuckled as Emma rolled her eyes. This was the fifth or sixth gift Henry had been presented with, the blonde had lost count. And Henry's cheeks were starting to hurt from the fake smile he was trying to keep on to look excited and appreciative.

"Uhh, Thanks Zelena…" he said.

"Silly, call me Aunt Zee!" she patted his arm for the third time. "Now  _this_ one is pretty cliche but I figured it would be cute."

She reached into her bag - the kind of bag that reminded Emma of Mary Poppins, and just as well, because given the amount of stuff Zelena had pulled out of it, it seemed pretty bottomless. - and pulled out a small metal replica of the Eiffel tower.

"Cool." Henry said.

"You went to Paris?" Regina said now intrigued.

"Indeed. When I said all over the world, I really did mean it." Zelena smiled.

"How's the food there?" Regina asked.

"Lovely! Oh Regina you really must go sometime…OH! That reminds me." Zelena dove into her bag again and for a second, Emma thought it was going to eat her alive. But she emerged from it unharmed and holding a bottle of what looked like wine, passing it to Regina.

"Wine?" the former queen asked, looking over the label.

"Not just any wine. Apple wine!" Zelena grinned. "It's made from apples!"

"You mean like cider?" Emma took the bottle, looking at the label before she remembered she couldn't read French. "I'm pretty sure nothing beats Regina's cider."

"While the vote of confidence is adorable." Zelena noted. "This is much different than cider. Cider is basically apple juice until you mix alcohol in it. Apple wine goes through the same process as regular wine…it also has a lot more alcohol in it."

" _Perfect._ I'll get the glasses." Emma said, getting a look from Regina. Zelena chuckled.

"Oh silly, save it for a special occasion." The redhead waved her off. "Though I'll have a whiskey if you've got it. Neat."

"You sure that won't disturb your vision quest?" Emma said as she went to get Zelena's drink.

"She's hilarious, I can tell why you fell in love with her." The former wicked witch grinned up at Regina.

"Yes, indeed." Regina said. "Zelena, while all the gifts are wonderful and all that…you really didn't have to."

"Oh don't be ridiculous! I can't come over unannounced after traveling the whole world and not bring gifts! Look, I got you a shisha from Tunisia!" Zelena said, pulling out the tall, thin contraption from her bag. Regina's eyes went wide.

"Hey isn't that made for smoking weed?" Henry asked.

"Did I hear weed?" Emma came in with Zelena's drink in hand. "Because after the day I've had-"

"No." Regina cut her off.

"It's not made for  _weed._  Just tobacco and other things you can smoke…it's like these new fangled electronic things everyone smokes fragrant smoke out of…what are they called?"

"Vapes." Henry answered her without hesitation. "That's a little  _too_ big to be a vape."

"Well this is the  _original_ vape, my dear boy." Zelena smiled. "This is what you smoke if you want to be a hippie."

"You mean a hipster?" Henry chuckled.

"Yes, sure, whatever. Enjoy." She said, pushing the shisha across the table towards him.

"Do not." Regina stopped him before he grabbed it. "That will make a nice decoration somewhere but if I ever catch you smoking you're grounded until you're  _ninety_."

"You'll be dead by then!" he protested.

"Wanna bet?" Regina challenged. And no, he really didn't, because he knew Regina would somehow find a way to make herself immortal just because he challenged her.

"Amorie no, don't play with the smoking thing." Emma said gently as she pulled her daughter away from the shisha.

"Yes sweetie here, play with this traditional Chinese rattle instead." Zelena grinned, passing a curious Amorie what looked like a small drum on a stick, with two beads on two strings on either side of it. Zelena twisted the drum around at a fast speed, demonstrating how the beads would hit the drum and make a rhythmic sound. Amorie grinned like she was given the whole planet on a stick at that point and took the drum, repeated the action she'd seen her aunt perform, giggling in sheer joy at the sound.

"Oh great." Emma rolled her eyes. "Give the toddler something that makes  _noise._ "

"Emma, be nice." Regina chastised.

"Oh sure, I have to be nice to your sister when she gives Amorie a noisy toy, but you can threaten to singe my mother's ears off for giving her a singing bear?" Emma said accusingly.

"In my defense that was the fifth day in a row I woke to 'It's A Small World' stuck in my head. It's enough to drive enough to even the slightest form of mental instability." Regina shrugged.

"As a person who went on that ride three times in Disneyland, I have to agree." Zelena shrugged.

"Cool! You went to Disneyland?!" Henry perked up. "Please tell me you took photos!"

"Lots!" Zelena grinned, diving into her bag and pulling out a photo album.

"You  _printed_ them? Zee, this is the 21st century, people don't even need cameras anymore you can just store your pictures on your phone." Emma said.

"Yes well some of us weren't born in this universe and I wanted the  _full_ experience. Now hush! I went around and found everyone's movie counterparts!" Zelena grinned, before frowning. "Well, except mine. Apparently I'm not part of the Disney franchise."

"Nope, you're MGM…and technically you're younger than mom because Snow White aired in '37 while Wizard Of Oz aired in '39." Henry shrugged.

"You know way too much about fairy tales, kid." Emma sighed.

"Said the person getting married to a character of one of them." Henry shot back.

"Eh, fair point." Emma shrugged. "Wait hang on did you say nineteen  _thirty-seven?_  That's-"

"Moving  _on._ " Regina cut her off before the blonde could start counting. "Zelena, pictures. Now."

"Hmm? Oh! Of course." Zelena opened up her photo album. "Look! It's Snow."

"Oh my god she dresses  _worse_ than the real thing…I didn't think it was possible." Regina chuckled.

"Mom." Henry chided.

"That dress is atrocious." Zelena shrugged.

"Yeah every time I look at it I kinda appreciate the floral sweaters more." Emma shrugged.

"And this is Belle." Zelena pointed.

"Incredible. She looks exactly the same." Regina shook her head.

"Oh, Regina! I found Robin!" Zelena said as she flipped a page. The second they saw the photo, Emma started laughing.

"Is he…a  _fox?"_ Regina asked, looking closer at the picture.

"Apparently the movie is animated and the characters are all animals." Zelena shrugged.

"I mean he smelled like one the entire time I knew him." Emma shrugged. Henry tried not to laugh, Regina rolled her eyes at her.

"Emma, be nice. Remember he could have seriously complicated matters between us but instead chose to give us his blessing." The former queen reminded the blonde, who instantly felt bad.

"Sorry." She said.

"Still funny to me." Henry shrugged.

"Oh, and here's a little treat for Emma." Zelena said, flipping the page to show a picture of the redhead posing with the Disney version of Captain Hook. Regina started cackling.

"I keep forgetting about the wax mustache." Emma sighed.

"The  _curls._ " Regina laughed loudly. "Oh dear god…If only he actually looked like this, things would have been so much simpler."

"Next. Picture." Emma glared at her fiance.

"Sorry." Regina mouthed over quietly at Emma, who rolled her eyes with a fond smile because she could never actually be mad at Regina.

"And this is Peter P-"

"Nope." The three of them jumped, Henry reaching over and flipping the page over.

"We don't talk about him." Regina informed her sister. "At all."

"Alright…" Zelena said slowly. "Well…here's a group shot of the dwarves!"

"They looks like garden gnomes." Regina looked wide eyed at the picture.

"Yeah I always did think that was weird." Emma shrugged.

"Indeed." Zelena nodded. "Now there's loads more, though I don't know who all of them are to be fair. But  _this_ is my favorite one."

She flipped a page, and the minute they caught sight of the picture, Henry started laughing.

It was a picture of Zelena standing side by side with the Disney version of The Evil Queen.

"Oh my god." Emma tried not to chuckle, and failed miserably.

"Why the hell is she dressed like a nun?!" Regina said in outrage.

"Because those evil queen outfits of yours didn't exactly pass as 'kid-friendly' back in 1937." Emma laughed. "Speaking of which-"

"If you try and count one more time so help me god-" Regina threatened, not needing to say anything more than that before Emma raised her hands up in surrender.

"Mommy." Amorie reached over and patted the picture.

"Aww." Henry grinned. "She recognizes you."

"After all the hard work I put into giving birth to you,  _this_ is how you repay me?" Regina said playfully and gently to her daughter as she picked her up. "We are going to have a serious talk when you learn how to say a few more words little missy."

Amorie giggled as she grabbed her mother's nose, unbothered by the topic. A phone dinged, and the former queen expertly balanced Amorie on her hip as she pulled out her phone and sighed at it.

"Emma…Your mother is asking about dresses again…I gather you have not yet had 'the talk' with her." She looked at the blonde with a raised brow. Emma looked suddenly nervous and Henry raised a brow at her to match his adoptive mother's.

"The talk?" he asked.

"Is Emma alone not proof enough that Snow knows where babies come from?" Zelena asked. "And what does this have to do with dresses."

"Not  _that_ talk." Regina sighed. "Emma has yet to tell her mother that she won't be wearing a dress to our wedding."

"Oooh, a nudist wedding?" Zelena grinned. "I saw one while I was at this resort in Florida, it was beautiful! No one was out-shining anyone! Plus the groom was hung like-"

"Eww!" Henry covered his ears.

"Yeah ditto." Emma cringed. "She means I'm wearing a suit, Zee, Jesus Christ."

"Oh." Zelena visibly deflated. "Not as fun. Though you do have the physique to pull it off."

"Thanks?" Emma said with a hint of uncertainty.

"Either way." Regina jumped in before they could get side-tracked again. "You do have to actually tell your mother that tid-bit of information before we can go ahead with co-ordinating what we're wearing. We said she could plan the wedding for us, and she can't exactly do that if we don't give her the full details."

"I know…" Emma sighed. "I'm just nervous. I'm pretty sure she wants me to wear her old wedding dress."

"You mean…" Zelena raised her brow at the two of them. "The one she was wearing when Regina threatened to destroy everyone's happiness."

"Semantics." Regina waved her off with one hand before she adjusted Amorie in her arms. "Please talk to Snow, Emma. I'm sure she'll understand."

"I mean it's not like you're telling her you're marrying her former arch nemesis or anything." Zelena joked. "Oh…wait."

"Welcome home, sis." Regina said with a roll of her eyes and a fond smirk.

Zelena grinned. "It's good to be home, sis."

* * *

Sunday morning brought the Sheriff of Storybrooke to Granny's diner. Mind you, that's where most mornings brought her, but this time it was a little later in the day (it was her day off and Regina cuddles always made sleeping in better.) And she was waiting for her mother.

"You're nervous about something." Ruby said as she came over and poured Emma her second coffee.

"What makes you say that?" Emma said.

"You've been here maybe five minutes and you already drained your first coffee…and murdered that poor napkin." Ruby said, pointing to her hands that held a napkin that was little more than shreds now.

"Sorry?"

"Did you just apologize to a napkin?" Ruby raised a brow at her. "Why are you acting so weird?"

"Well…I'm meeting my mom." Emma said.

"And?" Ruby egged her on.

"And…" Emma sighed. "I don't want to wear a dress to my wedding."

Ruby blinked at her. "And this is a big deal because…?"

"Ruby!" Emma glared at her.

"What? You're acting like it's the end of the world." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Just tell her you don't wanna wear a dress. What's she gonna do? Cast a curse on all of us? That was your fiancée Em."

"If I roll this napkin up into a ball and throw it will you chase it and go away?" Emma said. Ruby winked at her.

"Cheap shot."

"Is that the drink your last date bought you?" Emma teased. Ruby slapped her arm.

"You shut up about my last date…" the wolf blushed.

"Oh my god." Emma pointed accusingly. "You're dating someone…and it's… _serious!"_

"Shut up!" Ruby looked around again. "We're taking it slow!"

"So you didn't put out yet?" Emma teased again. "Who is it?"

"Nuh uh, no way, miss 'hid her feelings for Regina for  _months_ even though you got her magically preggers' you don't get to just  _ask_ who I'm dating and expect me to spill." Ruby shook her head. "We're trying this out before we get people all excited about us. There's definitely something."

" _Something?_ " Emma smirked. "You mean a  _true_ something?"

"Nope. You're not getting that info." Ruby shook her head.

"I'll tell you wedding details. The kind I'm not supposed to spill yet." Emma grinned up at her and Ruby glared at her before she sighed and sat down across from her.

"For the record, I hate you." She said.

"I love you too, who is it?" Emma grinned, glad to be able to talk about something that wasn't her own love life for once (not that she didn't enjoy that, bragging about Regina was her favorite pastime.)

"Okay, don't freak out though." Ruby said. Emma nodded and the wolf took a deep breath. "It's Belle."

"…I  _knew it!"_ " Emma pointed accusingly.

"What the fuck, Emma?" Ruby slapped her hand away.

"Oh please you two were so gay when you met. You were almost as bad as me and Regina." Emma rolled her eyes.

"Yeah except she was with…ugh… _Gold._ " Ruby rolled her eyes.

"I second that gag." Emma nodded. "Wasn't she with that Scarlet dude?"

"She broke up with him. Something about abusing her level of trust in him to steal something from the shop for a friend." Ruby shrugged before realization dawned on her. "Oh."

"Asshole." Emma flicked at a stray shred of tissue paper in front of her.

"At least it ended well huh?" Ruby smiled at her. "Now gimme wedding details!"

"Okay…we're having it at the author's mansion. The honeymoon too. White's officiating." Emma said.

"That mansion is gorgeous." Ruby nodded. "Please don't ruin it with all the sex you're gonna have there."

Emma balled up the napkin and tossed it at Ruby, bouncing it off her forehead.

"What are you, five?"

"Takes one to know one."

"I was wrong, you're three!"

"Only three year olds hang out with three year olds."

"Your daughter is more mature than you and she can't even speak properly yet."

"Ladies?" a voice made them jump and look up.

"Mom!" Emma exclaimed.

"Snow!" Ruby grinned up at her.

"Are you two done trading blows or do you need another round?" Snow asked, an amused smirk on her face.

"We're good." Ruby nodded as she got up. "I should get back to work. Your usual brunch order guys?"

"Yes please." Emma nodded. Snow gave her a matching nod as she sat down and Ruby gave them both a smile before she walked away and towards the kitchen.

"Was she bothering you about information on the wedding again?" Snow asked.

"We may have traded secrets." Emma said with a shy smile. Snow rolled her eyes.

"Did you ask her yet?"

"No. I don't know how to." Emma sighed. "It should be easy right? I mean how did you ask?"

"We were talking about the wedding and I just turned and asked." Snow chuckled. "She nearly fell off the horse."

"So don't ask her if she happens to be horse riding, got it." Emma shook her head.

"Just take her out for a drink and ask, Emma, she'll be elated." Snow said, hopeful that her advice was helping to soothe her daughter's nerves.

"I just…there's a lot about this getting married stuff that I just…didn't think about." Emma sighed. "Marrying the person you love shouldn't be so freakin' complicated, you know?"

"It could be worse. Someone could crash your wedding and vow to curse you to lifelong misery." Snow said teasingly.

"You are the third person to make that joke in twenty four hours." Emma rolled her eyes. "If anyone so much as mentions it at the wedding, I'm punching them."

"I want to say you're too protective of Regina but…it's so  _cute_." Snow gushed.

"Enough." Emma groaned.

"Alright, you said you wanted to talk about something." Snow gestured towards her. "What is it?"

Emma sighed. "It's uhh…about the…uhh…dress."

"Oh." Snow visibly perked up and Emma cringed. "Do go on."

"You're not gonna be happy." The blonde preambled with a nervous frown.

"Emma, sweetie." Snow reached over and put a gentle hand on her daughter's. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"Okay." Emma sighed. "Well…I know you probably want me to wear your old wedding dress?"

"Well…I mean I was going to offer." Snow shrugged, taking in her daughter's expression. "But you clearly have other plans…what do  _you_ want?"

Emma gulped. She'd wanted to hear that question from a lot of people a lot of times in her life and suddenly she was too nervous to answer.

"Well…You know I'm not that girly." She began with a shrug. "And I'm such a klutz. I'm gonna be nervous enough as it is…I was thinking maybe…well…I could…wear a suit?"

"A suit?" Snow asked gently.

"Yes?" Emma said. "I know it's probably not what you had in mind but-"

"Emma stop." Snow gently gripped her hand tighter, giving her a small smile to soothe her. "If that's what you want, then I'm fine with it."

"You…are?" Emma raised a brow.

"Yes, sweetie." The pixie-haired brunette nodded. "Do you want me to help you pick it out?"

"You'd do that?" Emma asked again.

"Unless you want your father's help?" Snow asked. Emma shook her head.

"Ugh, no. I'll probably end up in plaid." She rolled her eyes and Snow chuckled.

"Okay. Well I've been spending a lot of time on the internet looking stuff up and I did actually come across a few suits for women. I'll compile a list." Snow nodded, pulling out her notepad and taking notes like she'd been doing for this whole thing since they said she could help them plan it.

"That's it?" Emma asked.

"What's it?"

"You're…you're okay with it? It's going in the book?" Emma asked again. Snow gave her a soft smile.

"It's going in the book." She nodded once. "Now, do you still want it to be white or?"

"Uhh…I haven't actually looked at anything yet so…I don't know." Emma shrugged. "Will you make me a list?"

"I'd love to." Snow nodded, tapping a period into her notebook before closing it shut. "Now, what else?"

And just like that, Emma wasn't so nervous about the wedding anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed it, please review. if you'd like to support my writing you can [Buy Me a Coffee](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z0DG4O)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY! Yes, I know, it's been actual months. Seasons have changed. Whole kingdoms have crumbled. It has been many moons. yada yada yada. I'm SORRY. But life sometimes kicks ya in the rear end. 
> 
> Here's chapter four, I really hope you like it! There's a massive cliffhanger at the end. 
> 
> I've put enough work into this fic that I think I'm able to start doing weekly updates every Sunday as I usually do - You'll definitely get an update next week!
> 
> In the mean time, enjoy the chapter!

“Sorry I’m late.” Regina said as she walked into the diner. “My meeting ran into overtime.”

“Was…that a sports reference?” David asked, side eyeing Emma who grinned up at her finacée as she rocked Amorie in her lap.

“I must be rubbing off on her.” The blonde said as Regina leaned down and kissed her finacée’s lips softly.

“Pfft, I bet you are.” Ruby said as she passed by the table, putting a coffee cup in front of Regina and pouring her a helping of the freshly made brew.

“Oh _god._ Ruby!” Snow turned beet-red and covered her ears. “There are children present!”

“Yeah don’t be gross Rubes.” Henry grumbled from his seat beside his grandmother.

“Whatever, your usual Regina?” Ruby asked.

“Please and thank you, Ruby.” Regina said with a smile as she settled into her seat beside Emma.

“Comin’ right up.” The waitress flashed the family a grin before she retreated. Amorie wiggled in Emma’s arms, reaching over and grabbing at Regina’s blazer sleeved gently, getting her mother’s attention.

“Oh, I think she wants a turn with mommy.” Emma said, Regina beaming as she reached over.

“Mommy!” Amorie said, wiggling further and nearly falling into Regina’s lap, thankfully Emma had a good hold on her, and Regina caught her easily.

“Come here baby.” The brunette woman took her into her lap, giving Emma a break and taking the opportunity to hold and cuddle her daughter - not always a luxury she had in the middle of a busy day. Thankfully, Snow had asked them to meet for lunch, telling them there was something they needed to discuss.

Emma thought it to be a little cryptic, given how they’d constantly been talking about wedding plans and had weekly meetings set up especially so they’d always touch base on organization details. And given the almost nervous way her mother was looking at the two of them now, the blonde was almost certain it was about something that had little to do with the wedding.

Regina had the same thought,  and though she’d told Emma not to worry about it too much until they actually met up to discuss it, she had to admit that she was curious about what Snow had to tell them.

“So what’s up mom?” Emma was the first to broach the subject. Snow sucked in a deep breath and Regina’s eyebrow instantly raised itself in curiosity.

“Okay, so…I wanted to talk to you about…Amorie’s naming ceremony.” She said, looking at Regina and then Emma nervously.

“Naming ceremony?” Emma asked. “You mean the absolute _drama_ that was Henry insisting on naming her himself.”

“Hey!” Henry frowned at his mother.

“No offense, it’s an awesome name.” Emma shrugged.

“No.” Regina sighed. “She’s talking about the official naming ceremony. The ceremony that officially introduces Amorie to…well the _kingdom_ that is now just the town. It’s a tradition in the enchanted forest. A tradition that I _can_ _’t believe_  I completely forgot about.”

“Yes, I did think that was strange…” Snow began.

“Snow there was only ever one naming ceremony ever since we came to this town, and it was your son’s.”

“Where is he by the way?” Emma asked.

“Kindergarten.” Snow said.

“Yesterday he finger painted an apple tree.” David beamed.

“Ooh!” Regina grinned at him. “I have to see that.”

“It’s on the fridge.” David said proudly.

“Wow, okay. Mommy and me club.” Emma caught their attention. “Could we, maybe, get back to the point?”

“Sorry.” Regina and David said in unison with matching blushes. Emma gave them both a fond smile and turned back to her mother.

“Mom, if you knew about the ceremony thing why didn’t you just…remind us?” she asked.

“Well…that’s where the little hiccup comes in.” Snow grew increasingly nervous. “And the reason I didn’t tell you is that I thought I’d talk to White about this and when I found out I thought Regina knew about the hiccup.”

“I know of no hiccup and I don’t like what your face is doing every time you say that word.” Regina stated plainly. “Which leads me to believe that I’m not going to like the hiccup itself either.”

“Okay, quit saying ‘hiccup’ and just spill it already.” Emma sighed.

“Hiccup!” Amorie repeated with a grin.

“She learned that one fast.” Regina smiled at her daughter and kissed her head.

“Mom?” Emma looked at Snow expectantly. The older woman squirmed a little in her seat and sighed.

“White can’t officiate the naming ceremony…because you two aren’t married yet.” She dropped. “You can only do it after the wedding.”

“What?!” Emma scoffed.

“I thought you knew.” Snow looked at Regina for help.

“Well I didn’t. But then again I never knew anyone who had a child out of wedlock in the Enchanted Forest.” She sighed. “It does make sense.”

“How does that make sense?” Emma asked, clearly outraged.

“I mean given the social norms of the Enchanted Forest, Emma.” Regina said.

“Well whatever.” The blonde slouched in her seat and crossed her arms petulantly. “The whole town already knows we have a kid.”

“Two.” Henry reminded her.

“We don’t need to _introduce_ her to anyone. And she’s already named. She doesn’t need one.” Emma went on.

“Emma the naming ceremony isn’t _just_ about the name and introducing her to the world officially. The fairies will give her a blessing during the ceremony, to keep her safe as she grows and protect her from darkness.” Snow explained. “And it’s also where you officially announce who the godparents are. Part of the ceremony involves signing a legal document stating you’re entrusting them with her care.”

“Godparents?” Emma froze. Regina sighed regretfully and Emma dropped her head in her hands.

“You _forgot?_ ” Snow gawked at the two of them.

“Oh get off our back.” Emma whined. “We didn’t exactly plan out the whole thing, it’s not like we’d been dreaming of who to give charge to our child in case something bad happens to us.”

“Which…we should do.” Regina said. Emma looked at her curiously and Regina shrugged, instinctively holding Amorie a little closer. “Emma we’ve faced a lot of enemies in the past and as much as I hate to say it, nothing says we won’t face anymore.”

“Are you seriously considering that we might die and leave our kids behind?” Emma asked.

“This conversation is upsetting.” Henry pointed out.

“Yes, yes it is.” Emma nodded.

“I agree, but Emma, even _normal_ couples name godparents for their children because they’re uncertain what the future may hold. With our track record? It’s not only cocky, it’s downright irresponsible.” Regina said.

“Iwwiwobbible.” Amorie tried to repeat. Emma looked at her daughter, who gazed up at her with piercing green eyes that Emma only ever saw in the mirror before Amorie was born. She sighed softly, gently reaching over and holding her hand out to her daughter, who reached over with her tiny hand and gripped two of her fingers tightly, as if she could tell her mother was itching to hold on to her tightly and never let go, and she was reciprocating the feeling.

“Okay.” Emma sighed. “We’ll do the ceremony.”

Regina nodded, her hand gently covering Emma’s. Henry got up from his seat and stood behind Regina, hugging her tightly from behind and taking Emma’s other hand over her shoulder.

“We don’t have to plan it until after the wedding. You guys have plenty of time to think about who you might want to name.” Snow said. “I talked to White, she said to please feel free and go talk to her if you need any advice.”

Emma nodded silently, leaning over into Regina’s shoulder and taking a moment to bask in the warmth and love of her family.

* * *

“Hey.” Ruby said as she walked into The Rabbit Hole only fifteen minutes later than she and Emma had originally planned. The blonde gave her a smile and slid over a cocktail glass filled with a red drink.

“Your favourite.” She announced.

“Ooh, you do know how to treat a woman.” The werewolf teased as she took a sip. “Mmm. Carl’s working tonight isn’t he?”

“Yeah, why?”

“He always puts an extra kick in my drinks, just for me.” Ruby shrugged with a smile.

“A lot of good that does to a werewolf who’s metabolism is so strong she can’t get drunk.” Emma rolled her eyes.

“Hey isn’t this…” Ruby looked around and grinned. “Isn’t this the table where you and Regina started making out?”

“God…no way.” Emma scoffed. “I’m sure the table moved since then.”

“Same spot anyway.” Ruby shrugged. “So, what is it you needed to talk about?”

“I need to have something to talk about to wanna hang out with my best friend?” Emma asked.

“Uh, when you have a one-and-a-half year old and the hottest woman to ever walk this earth at home?” Ruby raised a brow. “On a school night?”

“Don’t let Belle hear you say that about Regina.” Emma teased. Ruby shrugged.

“She agrees, besides, they’re both incredibly attractive just on different scales. You can’t really compare the two.” The waitress reasoned. “Now quit kidding around and tell me what’s up.”

“Okay fine.” Emma sighed. “There’s uhm, something I have to ask you.”

“Geez Em if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were gonna propose.” Ruby teased. “Which, I would say no to, by the way. I heard about that crazy romantic proposal you did for Regina. No way you’re getting away with proposing to me in a _bar._ I have class too you know?”

“Oh my god, Ruby. I’m not proposing to you.” Emma rolled her eyes.

“Just kidding, what’s up?” she said, planting her chin on the palm of her hand and looking at Emma expectantly. The blonde hesitated for a second before she decided she needed to just come out with it.

“Okay. Well…you know you’re my best friend.” She began.

“And you’re lucky to have me in your life, carry on.” Ruby grinned. Emma rolled her eyes at her again, this time with a smile.

“And, you know, I don’t even know if you remember this. But…well…you were the person who had given me the courage to actually try and pursue Regina the first time around…I mean yeah that plan got screwed over entirely because of Hook and him trying to bring back Robin-”

“And you shoving your head even farther up your ass than anyone thought possible. Yes.” Ruby nodded. “I do remember that conversation.”

“Great well…You’ve also been like one of the biggest supporters in our relationship, you know along with my parents but obviously they already have their roles in the wedding so…” Emma trailed off, but Ruby’s ears perked up at the mention of the wedding, and her eyes grew wider as she focused on Emma.

“Yeah?” she asked hesitantly

“So…I was wondering if…if you’d be my maid of honor?” the Sheriff finally dropped. Ruby’s jaw went slack and she stared at Emma in silence for a second before her face broke out into a huge grin.

And suddenly Emma was being pounced on and hugged… _tightly._

“Oh my god! Yes! Are you joking?”

“No?”

“I would love to!” Ruby squeezed her best friend again, pulling away a little and trying to discreetly wipe at her eyes.

“Ruby…are you… _crying?_ ” Emma asked.

“Shut up!” Ruby said with a chuckle. “I just…ugh…okay truth time.”

And as always with truth time, Ruby gulped down her whole drink before slamming the glass down on the table and sighing.

“This…you asking me to be involved in your wedding like this…kinda means a lot more to me than you think.” She began. “Thing is…you know how close your mom and I were in the Enchanted Forest…I mean we still are but…My friendship with Snow was…actually pretty similar to my friendship with you now. And…well…okay it’s weird now because you’re an adult and I didn’t age for 28 years so now we’re the same age give or take, but…well…when Snow found out she was pregnant…she asked me to be your godmother.”

“What?” Emma’s eyes went wide.

“Yeah.” Ruby shrugged. “And I was really looking forward to it all…had the, you know, curse and all not happened.”

“Uhh, yeah.” Emma said, unable to ignore the awkward feeling she got suddenly. The only reason she needed Ruby to be her maid of honor in the first place is because she was marrying the person who cast the curse that stopped Ruby from being her godmother.

“Hey no, it’s…I mean.” Ruby waved her off. “It’s water under the bridge. I mean…I know I’m a lot better about my wolf and all that now, but back then, when she originally cast the curse…all I wanted to do was forget. I may have cussed you out in my head once for breaking the curse.”

“Pfft, gee _thanks._ ” Emma teased. But she knew what Ruby meant, the girl had opened up to her many times about how she had a hard time dealing with what she’d done to Peter in her werewolf state.

“So yeah…I’ll be your maid of honor.” Ruby grinned and hugged Emma again. “Thank you so much.”

“Thank _you_ because you basically just agreed to kick my ass if I get cold feet.” The blonde chuckled.

“Yep, I will do that, and get you whatever you need before the ceremony. In fact I will start my maid of honor duties _tonight_ by doing the most important one.” Ruby said with a proud smile.

“Oh yeah, which one is that?” Emma asked.

“Getting you _plowed._ I’m getting shots.” Ruby grinned and left the table before Emma could stop her.

“Oh god what have I done.”

* * *

“Em-ma.” Regina’s soft, almost angelic voice whispered softly in her ear.

“Mmm, yeah baby?” she muttered softly in her sleeping state.

“Did you and Ruby have a long night baby?” Regina asked softly.

“Mmmhm.”

“I thought you might have.”

_Whoosh_

The curtains flew open _loudly_ and the sun poured onto Emma’s face.

“Wake up!” Regina said, at full volume and rather forcefully.

“Fuuuck.” Emma whined.

“We don’t have time, you idiot. You slept in and you’re late for work.” Regina threw a pillow at her. “Get up.”

Emma groaned. “Whyyyy.”

“Because you have a job.” Regina poked her. “And I’m the mayor of this town and your boss and just because you’re marrying me and bed me on a regular basis doesn’t mean you get out of doing it.”

“Well then _boss_ I’m calling in sick.” Emma tried to cover her head again. Regina snatched the sheets from her hand.

“Hell no. You promised your father you wouldn’t skip work to make up for how much he has to work during our honeymoon.” Regina said. “What were you thinking? Drinking so much on a weeknight.”

“I asked Ruby to be my maid of honor and she decided to celebrate by trying to murder my liver.” Emma groaned as she pushed herself up off the bed. Her body hurt. Why did her body hurt?

Oh right. She was a dancey drunk. _Ugh._

“Regiiiinaaaa.” She whined.

 _Whack._ Something landed on her and made a rattling sound

“Ow…what was that?”

“Advil.”

“And you had to _throw_ the whole bottle at me?”

“I didn’t know how many you’d like.” Regina answered in her very Regina-like manner. “Get up.”

Emma groaned as she heard the tell-tale clicking of Regina’s heels retreating from the room. She sighed, swinging her legs off the mattress before she sat up, taking a moment to steady herself because she got up way too fast.

“Fuck.” She blinked a couple of times and reached for the bottle of advil, throwing two into her mouth before she stood up, going to the bathroom and drinking a gulp of water straight from the tap. She jumped into the shower and let the steam and the water help her headache and re-orientate her mind. When she stepped back out into the bedroom, she picked up her phone and called Ruby.

“Good morning, best maid of honor in the world speaking, how can I help you?” Ruby answered cheerfully.

“Bite me.” Emma replied promptly.

“Oh great, I’m working with bridezilla.” Ruby rolled her eyes on the other end of the line. “What crawled up your ass and died?”

“My sobriety, and probably my liver. Why do you get people drunk when you can’t get drunk yourself? It’s just sadistic.” The blonde said, balancing her phone between her ear and her shoulder so that she could start getting ready.

“Hey, you’re the one who drank the shots.” Ruby teased. “What’s the hangover scale?”

“A solid 7 at least.” Emma groaned. “And I got woken up by a mildly pissed off Regina and the pill bottle got thrown at me.”

“Three bear claws and an extra large coffee, coming up.” Ruby nodded.

“See, this is why you’re my maid of honor.” The blonde said.

“I’m well aware I’m a national treasure.” Ruby grinned. “See you soon.”

* * *

Emma had been thankful when she first came into work. The day seemed quiet, and ever since she and Regina had started dating she’d been on top of her paperwork. (Much to Regina’s relief.) Which meant that there were times where she literally had nothing to do, which usually meant she was bored out of her mind, but today she took the golden opportunity to nap in the cot of one of the cells. Sure, it wasn’t the most comfortable bed in the world, but it was a horizontal surface that wasn’t entirely made out of hornets, and when Emma Swan was hungover, those were her only standards.

And she had been enjoying a wonderful nap too, when the phone started blaring.

She woke up, made a sound akin to what one would imagine a zombie would make, and got up to answer the phone.

“Sheriff.” She answered.

“Sheriff Swan?”

“You know any other Sheriffs in this town?”

“Well no…but you sound…different.”

 _Thanks._ “Mrs. Walters, can I help you with something?”

“Well yes…are we still asked to report strange, possibly magic activity?”

“Pretty sure that’s a permanent fixture yeah.” Emma sighed away from the phone’s receiver.

“Okay, well, I was walking my little Pukins in the woods, you know how he likes to run and sniff around, the little dear.”

“I’m gonna have to ask you to get to the point ma’am.” Emma said.

“Oh. Right. Well…I think I saw a portal open up.” The woman dropped.

“A…portal?” Emma’s eyes went a little wide. “Can you describe what it looked like?”

“It looked…well…like a portal.”

_Go figure._

“You wouldn’t happen to be able to describe which area of the woods this was, would you?” Emma asked.

“Well I walked to the troll bridge and then took a left, there’s a small clearing. And…sheriff?”

“Yes Ma’am?”

“I saw a woman fall out of it.”

“Yeah…that would be a portal. I’m on my way to investigate but for now try not to tell anyone about it. Best not to cause unnecessary panic until we know for sure what it is.” Emma instructed.

“Yes, Sheriff. Thank you. And…get well soon.”

 _Slam._ Emma hung up the phone, then picked it up again and pressed the speed dial button to the mayor’s direct line.

“Mayor Mills.” Regina answered when she picked up the phone.

“Sheriff Swan.” She said with a small smirk on her face.

“You sound awful. Were you sleeping?” Regina asked.

“ _Thanks._ ” She groaned. “I just got a call about a suspected portal in the woods, apparently some woman fell out of it. I’m on my way out to investigate.”

“Call me if you need back up.” Regina said. “And please be careful.”

“I will. And I love you too.” Emma smiled, picking up on the ‘butterflies in your stomach’ feeling that she’d just caused Regina to have. She loved the fact that even a year a half into their relationship, she still gave Regina that feeling.

“Quit gloating to yourself and go.” Regina said. Emma chuckled a little before she hung up and picked up her jacket.

She drove as far into the woods as she could, just a few meters away from the troll bridge, before exiting and going on foot. She turned left, hoping the clearing was straight ahead and that she didn’t have to trudge through the woods for hours before she found the starting point. She could feel a strong sense of magic in the air. _Really_ strong. And, she suspected, really dangerous too.

She got nervous for a moment, wondering if she should maybe just call Regina for back up now. But then all of a sudden, she got a weird sense of…warmth

A strange sense of familiarity. But then, dark magic could be deceiving, and she didn’t know what she was working with yet. She saw the clearing up ahead and marched on, stepping out into the sunlight that shone through the trees overhead.

The strength of the magic that had been used to open the portal was obvious, she could almost taste it’s presence in the air. It was enough for her to find the exact location of where the portal opened…and, you know, the weird black scorch marks on the grass helped too.

She crouched down, trying to find anything that she could use to track whoever it was that fell out of the portal. She picked up a few tracks heading deeper into the woods. She followed them, but as soon as she got a couple of feet into it…

_Crack._

Her hand shot to her holster and pulled out her gun before her brain could catch up with her. She whipped around, gun held in both hands and aimed at eye level.

“Whoever is out there, come out. _Now._ ” She ordered.

From behind a tree, she caught sight of a red cloak fluttering around, and at her eye-level, she caught sight of a head of black hair.

“Don’t shoot.” A voice said. She saw a leather-gloved hand, and then another, and the person standing behind the tree came out slowly. It was a woman, dressed in boots, black leather trousers, a cotton shirt and a leather waistcoat, with a red cloak draped over her shoulders. Her long black hair was down and flowing over her shoulders. She had pale skin, high cheekbones, and a heart-shaped face that ended in a sharp chin. There was something familiar about her but Emma was sure she’d never seen this girl anywhere before, at least not as far as she knew. She was very clearly from the Enchanted Forest or at least some kind of place similar to it. But something stuck out to Emma.

_Don_ _’t shoot._

“You know what a gun is?” Emma asked.

“Yes.” The woman nodded.

“But you’re not from here…this realm, I mean.” Emma said.

“Well…that’s a little complicated to explain.” The stranger said. “I am from this realm. But I’m not from this _time._ ”

“You…time travelled?” Emma asked. The woman nodded. “Past or future?”

“Future.” She said.

“You have magic then.” The sheriff questioned further.

“I do. And so do you.”

“You…know me?” Emma asked, taken a little aback at the detail the woman gave her about herself. The stranger smirked, a soft chuckle escaping her.

“Oh yeah.”

There it was, that strange familiarity. That _warmth._

 _“_ Can I ask you a question now?” the woman chanced. Emma lowered the gun and holstered it slowly. The stranger lowered her hands just as slowly.

“You can. Whether or not I answer depends on the question, I guess.”

“What year is it?” the woman asked.

“Twenty-eighteen.” Emma answered. “Why?”

“In that case, you know me too.” The woman said. “Though I’m probably a lot different right now.”

“Who are you?”

“You probably won’t believe me if I told you.” The woman said. “But if you look carefully, I know you’ll be able to figure it out.”

“Look, lady, I don’t have time for games.” Emma said. “I could just cuff you and toss you in the station’s cell until you tell me.”

“And I could poof out of here before you even know what hit you and send you on a wild goose chase through the entire town, because I know you won’t take any chances when it comes to strangers in this town.” The woman raised a brow and Emma’s eyes went wide.

That face, which Emma felt in her heart that she knew somewhere, that eyebrow raise. Even her voice had something in it that Emma just… _knew._ But she couldn’t figure it out. It wouldn’t come to her…until she looked into her eyes and almost gasped at what she saw.

Piercing green eyes that she’d only ever seen in the mirror before…

“Amorie?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed it, please review. if you'd like to support my writing you can [Support Me on Ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z0DG4O)


	5. Chapter 5

" _Amorie?"_

"Hi." The girl gave her a nervous smile.

"Oh…my god." Emma choked out, the air leaving her lungs for a second. Suddenly feeling woozy, she had to reach out and steady herself against the tree beside her. For what felt like hours (but was really only just a minute) she stared at the woman in front of her.

"Ma? Could you…could you say something? It's starting to feel a little awkward…" Amorie said almost nervously.

"You…You're so  _beautiful._ " Emma said in awe.

"Of course you go with the embarrassing thing." Amorie rolled her eyes. That one simple action sealed it.

"Oh my god, you look so much like your mother." Emma said.

"Which one?" Amorie joked. Emma chuckled softly. "You both always tell me I look like the other I wish you'd make your minds up, honestly."

"It's just…you…oh my god." Emma gestured at her vaguely. "Look at you."

"Yeah, cool, thanks." Amorie cleared her throat. "Could we get back to the reason I jumped…what…20 years into the past?"

" _Twenty?_ " Emma exclaimed. "You're…you're…"

"Twenty two, yes ma,  _God_." Amorie rolled her eyes. "I told Henry you'd freak out."

"Henry is here?!" Emma looked around.

"No. No…well…not future Henry. I'm alone." Amorie said, taking a step closer to the blonde now that there was no danger of setting her defenses off again. "Look…I…I'm glad to see you honestly but…it's not exactly a social call…I came to get your help…yours and mom's."

"What? What's going on?" Emma asked.

"It's a little difficult to explain. We don't fully know what we're dealing with just yet to be honest…I'm going to need your help convincing mom of who I am, but we should do that first, before I explain everything. It's a long story." The younger girl sighed.

"Okay, yes…we should probably get you some normal clothes too." Emma looked at her daughter's outfit with a raised brow. "Wait…what are you doing in the Enchanted Forest?"

"Long story." Amorie said.

"Yeah well, twenty years, everything's gonna be a long story…wait can you not tell me cause of the whole 'disrupting the future' thing?" Emma asked.

"What? No, come on. That's such a cliche." Amorie waved her off. "But, honestly, it's probably better I talk to you and mom at once. And Henry, I'm going to need his help too."

"Okay…come on…I'll call your mom on the way." Emma said, not moving and still looking at her for a moment.

"Please stop acting weird."

"Okay yeah sorry." Emma shook it off and stepped forward to lead Amorie through and out of the woods and to the cruiser.

"God you still haven't replaced this old thing yet? You got the new ones later than I thought." Amorie said as she got in.

"Do we have hover cars in the future?"

"You're such a nerd."

* * *

When they arrived at the mansion, Henry was still at school and the present, infant version of Amorie was still being looked after by David, who had been having separation issues now that Neal had started kindergarten. Babysitting Amorie while Emma and Regina were at work had quelled them nicely.

"Thanks for the clothes." Amorie said to Emma as she came downstairs. "God I forgot what the house used to look like."

"Did we renovate or something?" Emma asked, balancing food out of the fridge. Amorie mentioned offhandedly how she was kind of hungry and Emma promised her a sandwich and was suddenly determined to make her daughter the best goddamned sandwich ever. Okay, so maybe she was freaking out a little. Quietly…on the inside.

"Uhhh…there might be an incident involving crayons on the white walls in the next couple of years." Amorie gave her a nervous smile. "You repainted the walls after and changed the colour."

"How badly will Regina lose it?"

"Surprisingly? Not very." Amorie shrugged. "You? On the other hand…yeah."

"Me?" Emma gave her a surprised look as she pointed to herself. "But I'm the chill parent."

"Not when you're worried that you'll get into as much trouble as I will." Amorie teased.

"Fair point." Emma nodded as she started fixing up Amorie's sandwich.

"Oh can you make it a grilled cheese?" the dark haired girl asked with a pleading smile. "I haven't had one of your grilled cheeses in months.  _Please?_ "

"I might cry." The blonde cleared her throat. "One grilled cheese coming up."

"Thank you." Amorie grinned at her. Emma didn't know whether she should be elated that her daughter shares her love of grilled cheese sandwiches or worried about how Regina will react to it. Either way, if her daughter wanted a grilled cheese she would get one dammit.

She'd just finished making it and set it down in front of the adult version of her daughter when Regina walked in.

"Emma?"

"Kitchen babe." Emma called out, not missing the excited and slightly nervous look Amorie gave over her shoulder. The sound of the mayor's heels clicking on the hardwood floors came closer until Regina walked into the kitchen, giving Emma a nervous look before she noted the stranger sitting at her kitchen island eating a grilled cheese sandwich.

"What's going on?" Regina asked Emma before she looked towards the dark haired young woman. "Hello, do I know you?"

"Kind of?" Amorie said with a small smirk.

"Regina…You might want to sit down." Emma began.

"Oh God please tell me you're not pregnant." Regina gave her a wary look.

"No." Both Emma and Amorie shook their heads and Regina looked at the stranger curiously.

"Okay." She said slowly, pulling out a stool and taking a seat on it, giving her fiancée a look that sat somewhere between concerned and weirded out.

"Regina…this…" Emma gestured to their daughter. "Is…Amorie."

"Oh, what a coincidence." Regina smiled at the dark haired girl. "Our baby daughter has the same name. Funny we didn't think it was that common."

"Yeah…" Amorie bit her lip nervously. "It's…not."

Regina raised a brow and looked at the woman silently, trying to figure out what she meant. She took in her features for a long moment before the small, enigmatic smile on her face fell and she blanched.

"Oh…my god." She said before turning to look at Emma. "What did you do?!"

"Hey don't blame me!" Emma said defensively before gesturing to their adult daughter. "She's the one who jumped through a portal twenty years into the past."

"The  _what?!"_ Regina exclaimed…loudly.

"Smooth, ma." Amorie gave her blonde mother a pointed look.

"Don't sass me." Emma said parentally before looking back at Regina. "Regina?"

"I think I'm having a stroke." The former queen said.

"Okay, babe,  _breathe._ " Emma said gently. Regina did so, taking in a couple of deep breaths and blinking before she looked up at Amorie again.

"You're…you're our daughter?" she asked.

"Yes." Amorie nodded. Regina's eyes wandered up and down, taking her in, before seemingly landing on the table and then she whipped her head towards Emma.

"Emma Swan you did  _not_ give our adult daughter a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch!"

"She asked me for it.  _Specifically._ Also  _wow_ that is not the craziest thing going on here!" Emma said. Amorie bit her lip and tried not to laugh.

"This should not be as entertaining as it is." She chuckled. Regina took another deep breath and turned back to Amorie.

"Okay…so you're our daughter…" she said, looking at her for a moment in silence before she cracked a smile. "God look at you. You're beautiful."

"Isn't she?" Emma grinned.

"Oh.  _My God._ " Amorie rolled her eyes so far to the back of her head. "You two are embarrassing."

"We're just very proud." Regina shrugged.

"Yes, you always say that." Amorie sighed. "And as much as I appreciate and love you for it, could we please focus on the reason I time travelled?"

"Right. Yes." Regina nodded. "Wait hang on.  _How?!_ Time travelling is ridiculously complicated."

"Not with Henry around." Amorie gave them a small smile and a shrug.

"What?" they both asked.

"Henry doesn't have magic." Regina pointed out.

"Well no, he doesn't." Amorie nodded in agreement. "But…he's still pretty powerful."

"Okay, Amorie…maybe you should start from the beginning huh?" Emma suggested.

"Good idea." The dark haired girl nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay so, it all kind of started with Henry. When he grew up he got really into analysing the storybook. And with the empty storybooks in the Author's mansion. He actually went to college to study everything there is to study about writing. He has like three degrees."

"He does?" Emma beamed.

"Oh yeah." Amorie nodded with a smile. "He's a total nerd. Anyway. He decided he wanted to travel around. And I don't just mean like, different countries you know? I mean like…different  _realms._ "

Emma and Regina gave each other a wide eyed look before they looked back at their daughter.

"He travelled around while I was in college. He'd come back a lot though, visit, get gifts. We'd co-ordinate so that we'd both be home for spring break and summer and Christmas. You guys would never let us live it down if we missed one…you told us so." Amorie chuckled.

"We told you right too." Regina said, Emma giving a nod in agreement.

" _Anyway."_ Their daughter went on. "One day he comes back and he's…different. A good different. Wiser…prouder, even. And then at dinner he announces it…He'd been summoned by the sorcerer…and he asked him to be his new author."

" _Henry_ is the author?!" The couple said at the same time.

"Yep. Same reaction." Amorie smirked.

"That's incredible." Regina sighed, unable to hide her pride.

"That's  _our boy._ " Emma beamed. "Knew he'd do great things."

"Amazing things." Amorie nodded. "But I should probably go ahead and explain the rest?"

"Right, yes, of course." Regina nodded.

"Go on." Emma said.

"Okay so, after I graduated college I asked him to take me on a few adventures. He wasn't sure at first. But, well, he had this friend and she and I…got very close and we managed to convince him to take me along with them. We went on a few adventures, had our fun…and then we decided to go back to the Enchanted Forest." She stopped and suddenly turned very sombre. "And what we found was…well…to say 'all hell broke loose' would be an understatement."

"What happened?" Regina asked.

"In a nutshell? Rumpelstiltskin happened." Amorie said. "He just…took over  _everything._ Later we come to find out that the black fairy was helping him."

"The  _what_?" Emma asked. Amorie gritted her teeth before she started talking again.

"You remember the dark fairies? Like the one that tried to kill me when I was born?" she asked. "She's another one…We're not sure yet why they're doing this but we have a theory that it's linked to Blue."

Emma's fists clenched so tightly her nails dug into the palms of her hand. Regina's brow furrowed in that way it usually did before someone got fire-balled.

"How do you even know about Blue? You were way too young to remember." Emma asked calmly.

"You guys told me about her when we came to you for help." Amorie said. "We couldn't leave the Enchanted Forest in that state and let them get away with whatever atrocities they were carrying out. You came back with us to help, your future selves did anyway, and we thought we were close to fixing it all…and then you guys got abducted. We don't know where you are or…"

The dark haired girl gulped and blinked away the tears that suddenly burned her eyes. "Or if you're alive…and we  _need_ you guys. My magic is powerful, but with you two around I'm stronger. You are too. It's the way it works with our link."

"Of course, it's the magic that made you." Regina nodded.

"I should be able to feel if your future selves are alive or not. But something is blocking me. I…I honestly feel so lost." She said just above a whisper.

"Hey." Emma put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Can I just please have a hug?" Amorie said, tears spilling from her eyes.

"Oh darling of course you can." Regina got up quickly and wrapped her arms around the adult version of her daughter, letting the girl bury her face in the crook of her neck as Emma came closer and wrapped an arm tightly around each of them.

"It'll be okay. We'll find a way to fix this, we always do." The blonde tried to comfort her daughter as best she could.

"I know." Amorie nodded. "I just…I'm just scared."

Regina shushed her soothingly as she usually did when she cradled a crying baby Amorie. "We're here sweetheart. I know we're just the past versions of ourselves but we'll  _always_ be here for you."

* * *

When Henry got home, he was surprised to hear a new voice coming from the kitchen. It wasn't very often that they had visitors in the house that weren't part of their family in some way or another.

"Mom? Ma?" he called out, dropping his backpack by the stairs before heading towards the kitchen. He stepped into the room, his eyes landing on Regina before going to Emma, and then to the dark haired stranger who had been sitting with her back towards him and turned around in her seat to face him.

"Hey kid." Emma said gently. But something about the stranger kept him staring straight at her.

"Hey." He said, not taking his eyes off Amorie.

"Hi." She said, giving him a soft, almost nervous smile. He didn't smile, but he wasn't frowning. He was taking her in because something about her was so…

"Familiar."

"Henry…" Regina tried gently. "Maybe you should sit down we uhm…need to tell you something."

"You…" Henry said, not looking to his brunette mother nor following her advice.

"Hey, kid?" Emma said, about to put a hand on his shoulder. Amorie raised a brow at the way her brother was acting and he gasped softly.

"You're…you're her aren't you?" he said to the dark haired woman. "You're Amorie."

"Hi big brother." Amorie said with a small sigh of relief.

"How did you figure it out so fast?" Emma said, mildly upset that it took her the longest to figure it out. Regina was giving him a similarly confused expression.

"The eyes." He said, holding two fingers up and gesturing towards Amorie's eyes. "And the way you raised your eyebrow just now…you look so much like mom when you do that."

Regina, beside him, tried not to beam with pride…and failed miserably.

"And you have ma's chin…And her eyes…Holy crap you're beautiful." He said, his eyes a little wide at the realisation.

"Right?!" their mothers said as they gestured to her, ignoring the fact that he'd just cursed. Amorie just sighed in defeat.

"You people are crazy." She shook her head.

"Okay so now the big question is why am I looking at my  _adult_ baby sister?" Henry looked from one mother to the other expectantly.

"Sit down, we'll explain everything." Regina said.

Henry nodded and took the seat next to Amorie.

Repeating the story was a little bit easier, and Amorie couldn't help but laugh at Henry's expression when she told him he becomes the author.

"But wait…" He said as she finished explaining why she time travelled and what she needed. "If you're from the future, you shouldn't be telling us any of this…otherwise it could change things."

"Not according to what you told me before I got here." Amorie shook her head. "Something about the future and the past…well… _your_ present, existing on different planes of the same realm. What's happened in the future already happened. We can only change what happens on the planes we currently exist on."

"That's…" Emma hesitates. "My head hurts."

"Just think of them on different levels of the same building. We can travel from one to the other, but we can't change what happens on one level while still being on the other." Amorie shrugged. "Makes things simpler, I suppose."

"I suppose." Regina said with a hint of sarcasm. Amorie gave her an enigmatic smirk before looking back at her brother.

"How did you even time travel?" Henry asked. "Isn't it like…crazy complicated?"

"I promise you will learn all of this in time. You don't have to rush. It all falls into place for you." Amorie said, giving him a warm smile when he grins at her. It felt so good, telling a younger version of her big brother that everything would be okay and that he'd do great things in his future. It felt good, giving him the reassurance and comfort that he'd given her throughout the years as she grew up. "But the truth is that…you brought me here. You wrote me into the past."

"I can do that?!" His eyes went wide. Regina and Emma's eyes met across the island counter and the pride in their hearts was almost tangible. Their kids would do amazing things. And it felt so good knowing that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it was quite a bit info-dump-ish, but it was necessary to start out with why Amorie came back - I promise there will be a lot more action in the future chapters, plus a lot more laughs too!
> 
> I've been excited to reveal this for a while now, and this is actually what got me so excited to write this sequel that the story just started forming in my head: Adult Amorie's appearance is based on Katie McGrath. If you watch Supergirl, you know who she is (She plays Lena Luthor) She's another one of my favourite actresses, plus I couldn't help but notice a lot of similarities between her and Lana and her and Jmo, so it kind of just fell into place. If you don't know what she looks like, I highly suggest googling her - she's gorgeous!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, as always if you'd like to show your support in other ways beyond leaving a review (I love your reviews guys, seriously!) and sharing this fic, you can always buy me a coffee at ko-fi.com/bluehoneybee - I'm currently saving up for a laptop as my old one is starting to become unusable, and that's mainly what I use to write all my stories - fanfiction or otherwise.
> 
> Until next week!


	6. Chapter 6

“Oh yeah.” Emma sighed as the heat rose to her face. “That’s it.”

She licked her lips, mouth salivating at the thought of the delicious juices about to hit her tongue as she stuck it out to catch a couple of drops of sweet, salty essence that fell out of her prey.

“Oh yeah, you are one juicy little slut…come to mama…”

“Emma?” Regina’s head popped into the kitchen door, confusion written on her face. “Who the hell are you talking to?”

Emma’s face went red as she looked towards her finacée, putting the tray in her hands down and kicking the oven door closed.

“My cheese fries.”

Regina rubbed a palm over her face in exasperation, opening the door to reveal a semi traumatized Henry and Amorie standing behind her, the present, baby version of Amorie in Henry’s arms.

“Oh…hi kids.” Emma grinned sheepishly.

“You are so weird.” Henry groaned.

“It doesn’t get any better with age, trust me.” The future version of Amorie rolled her eyes as she took a seat on the island bar.

“Would you two quit sassing me?” Emma said, putting her fork down and coming to Henry to take baby Amorie in her arms and hugging her tightly, switching to her baby voice. “You don’t think mama is weird, do you?”

“Run kid, it’s a trap.” Adult Amorie said with a smirk.

“Should you even be in the same room as the baby version of yourself? Shouldn’t that like, cause a rip in the space time continuum?” Henry asked.

“Yeah it suddenly dawned on me how freaky this is, I’m holding a tiny version of you while the adult version of you is sitting like, right there.” Emma held baby Amorie out to look at her and then at the adult version. “It’s like looking at a regular sized and fun sized snickers bar, side by side.”

“Exactly what I want to hear, my mother comparing me to candy.” Amorie rolled her eyes.

“You know I’m starting to hope it takes a long time for baby you to learn how to do that.” Emma said.

“She won’t.” Amorie smirked at her.

“Are we done?” Regina asked, obviously exasperated. “I do believe we have bigger problems than Emma’s food kink.”

“ _Gross._ ” Henry and Amorie groaned again.

“You didn’t warn me about their weirdness before you sent me to the past.” Amorie said accusingly towards her brother, pinching his elbow.

“Ow!”

“Serves you right.”

“I didn’t even _do anything_ yet!” he whined.

“Well I can’t pinch future you right now and I don’t hold grudges for that long.” Amorie shrugged.

“Oh my god. Would you two stop acting like children?” Regina demanded. Suddenly, baby Amorie threw the rattle that was in her hands right at her brunette mother, getting adult-her and Henry to laugh.

“She did it.” they both said, pointing at baby Amorie who was giggling while Emma tried not to laugh.

“You are grounded.” Regina said towards adult Amorie.

“Why me?!” she complained.

“Because grounding a baby would just be pointless.” Regina said, going over to Emma and taking said baby in her hands. “Wouldn’t it? Yes it would.”

“I’m being discriminated against because I’m not as cute as I used to be.” adult Amorie crossed her arms and huffed.

“Hey at least she’s the only version of you that willingly craps her pants.” Emma said.

“We’re getting ridiculously side tracked.” Regina said. “Though I agree with that pants-crapping thing.”

“Okay. So, you came to the past because you needed our help right?” Emma asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay...so what do we need to do?” Emma asked.

“Well first I think we should find out _how_ Rumple got back to the Enchanted forest.” Regina said. “In this time, he’s still very much banished from town by his wife.”

“Ex-wife.” both Emma and Amorie piped up.

“Right.” Regina said, glancing between the two of them.

“Sorry, Aunt Belle always rolls her eyes when we get that wrong.” Amorie shrugged.

“ _Aunt_ Belle?” Regina asked.

“Long story. You’ll figure it out soon.” Amorie waved her off.

“I thought you could tell us anything?” Henry asked.

“Have you never heard of spoilers?” Amorie teased. “Some things are less fun if you know they’re going to happen.”

“Anyway.” Regina jumped in, hoping to get back to the point. “So first we need to figure out how Rumple managed to get ahold of magic outside of Storybrooke.”

“Right.” Emma nodded. “Then we find out who this Black fairy bitch is…”

“Then we figure out a plan for _how_ to defeat them.” Regina nodded.

“And then we go to the future.” Amorie finished. Regina and Emma’s eyed going equally wide as they looked at her. “What?”

“Go to the future?” Regina asked.

“Yeah...or...well...you go to the future, I go... _back..._ to the...future…” Amorie said.

“What do I look like, Marty McFly?” Emma blurted out.

“I told you guys, I need you there!” Amorie said. “With you guys around my magic is stronger - it doesn’t matter which version of you that is. The minute Ma was within a hundred mile radius of me, I could feel it, and my magic _instantly_ got stronger. We’re defeating a dark one and a dark fairy, I don’t know where the future versions of you are...how am I going to do that alone?”

Emma and Regina looked at each other, a silent conversation happening in between the two silent women. The baby version of Amorie in Regina’s arms fussed and looked over at her mother, while the adult version sat there, watching them and silently pleading that they go with her.

Emma sighed, she knew that the baby version of her daughter was feeling the second-hand effects of her future self’s anxiety, so she was feeling it twice-over, not to mention the same indecision that plagued her, plagued Regina as well...They were caught in a web. And if they didn’t help their daughter, they’d curse her to an uncertain future.

“I’ll tell mom to the put wedding plans on hold.” Emma said. Regina nodded, their decision had been made long before they spoke out the words.

“I can’t ever thank you guys enough.” Amorie sighed.

“You don’t have to.” Regina said, stepping towards her and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You’re our daughter, no matter what time you’re from, we’ll _always_ be here for you.”

“Yeah kid.” Emma gave her a small smirk. “You’re not gonna get rid of us that easy.”

“I love you guys.” Amorie said, leaning into her mother’s side and hugging her.

“We love you too, honey.” Regina said, balancing the baby version of Amorie on her hip so she could wrap one arm around the adult version’s shoulders.

“This is really trippy.” Emma said.

“Get a hold of yourself.” Regina rolled her eyes. “Or at the very least, take an Amorie.”

“I pick the tiny one who can’t sass me yet.” Emma said, coming over and taking baby Amorie out of Regina’s arms

“So.” Henry spoke up. “How do we get to the future?”

* * *

“Are you sure about this?” Amorie asked as she followed her mother out of her yellow bug and towards Snow and David’s apartment. “Won’t grandma have a fit or something?”

“Listen, if your grandmother didn’t check herself into a mental hospital the day your mom told me I got her pregnant, nothing will ever phase her again.” Emma said. “Besides, we kind of have this ‘no secrets’ policy and well...She’s planning the wedding, she deserves to know why it’s suddenly on hold.”

“Yeah.” Amorie sighed. “I just, don’t wanna freak people out about their future or the future of the Enchanted forest.”

“We won’t.” Emma shook her head. “We’ll just explain to her that something’s going on that you need our help with and that we need to put our plans on hold. And not to tell anyone.”

“If mom were here she’d make a quip.” Amorie said.

“Your mother makes a quip about everything. It’s like her job.” Emma shrugged.

“You once said you wouldn’t love her as much if she weren’t as sassy and sarcastic as she is.” Amorie said with a smirk

“Aww.” Emma smiled and nodded. “What did Regina say?”

“That she’d still probably love you just the same if you didn’t eat like a child.”

“Gee _thanks_ future Regina.” Emma rolled her eyes.

“In her defence you’d just attempted to stuff a whole burger in your mouth and nearly choked on it. She had to save your life via magic.” Amoried shrugged. “Are we going inside or what?”

“Yes, now you just let me give it to your grandmother easy. It’ll be a little hard to believe that you’re the same kid who’s diaper she changed this morning.” Emma instructed.

“Growth spurt?” Amorie joked before she followed her blonde mother into the apartment building.

“I’ll call the elevator.” Amorie said, turning around and walking face first into a wall “Ow! What the-”

“This building doesn’t have an elevator.” Emma said, her hands gently on Amorie’s shoulders and a concerned look on her face as her daughter rubbed her offended nose.

“It does in my time.” Amorie pouted at her mother, who just chuckled.

“Well in _this_ time, we take the stairs.” Emma said teasingly before she lead Amorie up said staircase.

“I keep forgetting why the homeowner’s association had kicked up that fuss.” Amorie shrugged. Emma gave her daughter and enigmatic smile as she ran up the last couple of steps and nearly tripped on the last one.

“Woah!”

“Oh yeah! Grandma did it when you broke your leg doing...well...that.” Amorie said.

“Noted.” Emma sighed.

“Mom never lets you live it down, in case you were wondering.”

“Didn’t doubt it for a second, kid.” Emma said, knocking on her mother’s door. “Now, remember what I told you, just...be chill.”

“I’m chill.” Amorie shrugged. “I’m gonna sit quietly while you try to explain to grandma that her granddaughter travelled twenty years to the past to save your ass.”

Emma lofted a brow at her. “Actually, could we not put it like that to her?”

“You do the talking.” Amorie grinned and patted her mom’s shoulder before she knocked on Snow’s door.

“Hey wh-” Emma turned around to stop her daughter, but it was too late. And in the next second, her mother opened the door.

“Oh, hi Emma.” Snow’s face lit up as it always does when she sees her daughter. Her eyes briefly wandered over to the woman standing beside her, but her smile never waivered. It was almost creepy, Emma thought...If she wasn’t a fairy tale character, it would be.

“Hey mom.” Emma said nervously. “Can we uhh, come in? We kinda have something a little important to tell you.”

“Sure.” Snow nodded, moving aside from the door to let them in. “Do you want some tea?”

“No thanks.” Emma said.

“What about you Amorie?” Snow turned to the youngest of the three women.

“Oh no thanks grandm- wait, what?!” Amorie’s eyes went wide, as did Emma’s, as they both gawked at Snow.

“What, did I say something wrong?” Snow asked.

“No it’s just…” Emma looked from her mother, to Amorie, and back again. “How did you know?”

“Well the eyes mostly.” Snow shrugged. “She has your eyes, if you block out everything else it’s like looking right at you. And that White chin of course.”

Snow reached out to gently poke Amorie’s chin affectionately and Amorie rolled her eyes at her grandmother.

“And she looks far too much like Regina when she rolls her eyes. You really did come out with the best combination of your mothers. You’re beautiful!”

“ _Grandma!_ ” Amorie whined.

“Just like your mother.”

“Okay hold _on_ a second here!” Emma said, looking directly at her mother. “You mean to tell me you’re looking at the _adult version_ of a kid who’s diaper you changed like, five hours ago, and you’re not even phased?!”

“Emma please, I’m in my sixties and I look like I’m in my thirties!” snow shrugged. “Besides, if I didn’t check myself into a mental hospital when Regina told me you got her pregnant, am I really going to be surprised that a magical love child who is also the product of true love has the ability to time travel?”

“She’s got you there.” Amorie shrugged.

“I’m sure you knew right away when you saw her too...didn’t you?” Snow asked.

“Uhh...yeah...sure.” Emma said, her eyes shifting around shyly.

“It took her a minute.” Amorie said.

“Whatever. We have more important stuff to talk about.” Emma waved her off.

“Like what?” Snow asked.

“Like the fact that we have to do the time warp and go twenty years into the future to save our own selves, apparently.” Emma shrugged.

“Please don’t try to dance when we do it.” Amorie quipped.

“Wait what?” Snow asked.

“Why do you think Amorie came all the way to the past? It’s not to change her own diaper, that’s for sure.” Emma rolled her eyes.

“It’s just weird!” Amorie argued. “Get to the point!”

“Please do.” Snow said as she crossed her arms, her features slowly morphing into her patented ‘game face’

“Amorie says there’s some shit going down in the enchanted forest of the future.” Emma explained. “Apparently future me and Regina went to the Enchanted forest with her and Henry and a friend of theirs and we got our butts kidnapped.”

“You getting kidnapped, I can’t say I’m surprised. But Regina?” Snow asked, looking at Amorie who shrugged.

“Over the years love has made her a little more impulsive than she is now.” the youngest woman explained. “They trapped Ma first and got mom when she was trying to save her.”

“I’m keeping that one tucked away for when Regina calls me an idiot again for trying to fish a loose curly fry from under the oven grate while it’s still hot.” Emma said. “We put ourselves in dangerous situations for the things we love. It’s just the way it works.”

“Emma, be serious.” Snow said, turning back to Amorie. “Are they okay?”

“I don’t know.” Amorie shrugged and sighed. “Something’s blocking my magic and I can’t feel them. But we’re confident they’re alive.”

“As long as you’re confident.” Emma scoffed.

“If you weren’t...I think it would…” Amorie sighed. “I think it would...like... _hurt_ more.”

“Hurt?” Emma looked at her daughter in concern.

“Once when I was like eleven or something I was making a grilled cheese…”

“Proud of you.” Emma nodded.

“And I burnt my finger on the grill. You and mom came rushing in from either side of the house. I didn’t shout or anything, there was no way you could have heard me. But when I asked you said you guys both felt the burn too.” Amorie explained. “It’s our connection, it’s the way it works. It’s been like that all my life and I don’t know what a severed connection would feel like but I think if either of you got killed I’d be...howling in pain or something.”

“That’s...a scary thought kid.” Emma sighed, putting a gentle hand on her daughter’s arm.

“I know.” Amorie nodded. “But it also gives me hope that you guys are alive.”

“That’s good, sweetie.” Snow said, stepping closer to her granddaughter. “But...if that’s the case why do you need this time’s Emma and Regina?”

“Because my magic is stronger with them around.” Amorie said. “And I need to be at my strongest if we’re going to defeat Rumpelstiltskin and the black fairy.”

“Rumpelstiltskin is up to this?!” Snow demanded with wide eyes. “How did he even-”

“We’re still trying to figure that part out.” Emma sighed. “We’re still figuring all of this out to be honest, but that’s not what I’m here to talk to you about.”

“Then what is it?” Snow asked, nothing but concern laced in her features and tone. Emma’s features immediately turned sad and she looked down for a moment.

“We have to put the wedding on hold.” she said. “We can’t let Amorie just sit and wait, and let God knows what happen to us and our kids’ future selves, just cause we wanna get married.”

Snow looked from her daughter to the future version of her granddaughter before she nodded. “You’re right. You can’t. Your father and I would do the same thing if we were in that situation. Family comes first, it always has.”

Emma nodded. “Thanks, mom.”

“Of course, honey.” Snow stepped up and wrapped her daughter up in a hug. “And we’re here to help if you need it.”

“We do, actually. We’re going to be gone and we don’t know for how long. We’ll need you guys to watch Amorie...well the baby version of her.” Emma said, getting an eye roll from her daughter’s future self beside her. “And Henry. He’s fifteen but sometimes he still needs to be reminded to change his damn underwear.”

“Doesn’t get much better when he’s twenty, either.” Amorie muttered under her breath.

“Of course, we’ll take care of everything while you’re gone. And I’ll keep track of things for the wedding anyway - the minute you come back, we can pick up where we left off.” Snow nodded.

“Thanks mom.” Emma smiled.

“No problem, sweetie.” the brunette woman said.

“Thanks Grandma.” Amorie reiterated. Snow smiled, stepping up to the girl who was roughly as tall as Emma, and wrapped her up in a hug the same way she had done to Emma only a moment ago.

“I’m going to have the time of my life watching you grow up to be...well...you.” Snow grinned.

“Yeah well I can tell you now, baby me is going to love having you as a grandma.” Amorie shrugged.

“That’s so sweet.” Emma said. “And kinda weird.”

“Come on.” Amorie rolled her eyes. “Let’s go home before mom starts freaking out.”

“Why do I feel like you just summed up the next twenty years of my life in one sentence?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Please review ^_^ And as always if you'd like to show some love in other ways you can always share this fic with whoever you think might enjoy it, or maybe buy me a coffee at ko-fi.com/bluehoneybee


	7. Chapter 7

"There you are." Regina sighed when Emma and Amorie walked through the front door.

"Told you she'd freak out." Amorie said, getting Emma to roll her eyes.

"I am not  _freaking out._ I simply worry." Regina crossed her arms over her chest. "Excuse me if my daughter jumping twenty years into the past to ask for our help gives me a little anxiety."

"It's okay." Emma said, approaching Regina and placing gentle, soothing hands on her shoulders as she kissed her cheek. "Mom understands, she told us to do what we gotta do, and that wedding plans will be ready for us when we get back."

Dropping her arms, Regina let out a sigh of relief. "Okay."

"I don't wanna rush you guys, but…" Amorie began.

"I'm way ahead of you." Regina cut her off. "I've been making a list."

"Have you been checking it twice?" Emma teased, immediately getting whacked on the arm with the notebook that was now in Regina's hand. "Ow!"

"As I was  _saying_." Regina glared at her finacée before looking back at her daughter. "The first step is figuring out how the hell Rumplestiltskin managed to get to the Enchanted forest from a land  _without_  magic."

"So what's your list about?" Amorie asked.

"It's more of a timeline, I've been trying to track back to any point in time where anyone could have helped him get back into town." Regina said.

"Well Belle banished him around the time Robin and Marian left." Emma said, getting a nod from Regina.

"Ursula and Cruella showed up about six weeks later." Regina said.

"Weren't they working with him?" Emma asked. Regina nodded.

"Only I convinced them not to." she said.

"How did you manage that?" Emma asked.

"A promise to find a way to resurrect Mal, which I did." Regina shrugged. "And gin, lots of gin."

"How did you resurrect Mal?" Emma asked. Regina's eyes shifted around, suspiciously enough to get Emma to quirk a brow at her.

"We have a complicated history...I... _wronged_ her once and she never really got over it so...a drop of my blood did the trick." the former queen shrugged nervously.

"I'm not even  _going_ to ask." Emma said.

"I mean, she did trap her in an underground cave." Amorie shrugged. "Seems like that would be enough."

"Fair point." Emma nodded.

"Getting back on topic?" Regina asked, getting mumbles of agreement from both women. "They gave me the scroll when Mal came back. And I handed it back to Belle and told her to keep it safe."

"Right, and then  _her_ sleaze ball ex-boyfriend stole it from the shop to give it to  _my_ sleaze ball ex-boyfriend who used it to bring Robin back to town where he proved himself to be a decent guy." Emma summarised.

"And Robin gave the scroll back to me." Regina said. "And I gave it back to Belle... _again._ "

"Hopefully along with some tips to keep it safe?" Emma asked.

"I gave her the recipe for a potion that can duplicate a blood magic binding spell - told her to use it on the safe so only she could open it." Regina explained.

"And we've been incident free so far, so is it safe to assume it worked?" Emma asked.

"Well it  _was_ before we found out that apparently all that back and forth was for nothing." Regina sighed. "Maybe we should ask Belle about the scroll?"

"We have to start somewhere." Emma shrugged, looking at Amorie. "What do you think, kid?"

"I gotta be honest with you guys. I'm winging it here." Amorie shrugged. "All I know is we have to find a solution and the kick Rumpelstiltskin's ass."

Regina looked from her daughter to her finacée. "She's definitely yours."

"Well shit, you nearly broke my hand giving birth to her, I freaking hope she's mine." Emma teased, getting whacked with the notebook again. "Ow!"

* * *

"God, the shop looks awful." Amorie commented. "No wonder Aunt Belle refurbished the whole thing and turned it into a bookshop."

"She did?" Emma asked.

"You're surprised?" Regina asked. "I thought you dubbed Belle 'the town nerd.'?"

"She still keeps all the magical artifacts and stuff in it, she just decided that the library was gathering too much dust, since people needed her to run the shop." Amorie shrugged.

"So she took government property to sell for a profit?!" Regina demanded.

"Actually it's this weird collaboration thing. The library books are still owned by the town, the town in turns funds part of her shop instead of the library." Amorie explained. "It's weird and complicated and I was too young to remember when it happened. I hardly remember the store being so...dumpy."

"So what did we do with the library?" Emma asked.

"I'm sorry, 'we'?" Regina quirked a brow.

"I'm sorry, I mean, what did your mom, who is only mayor via a dark curse and no one actually knowing what the fuck they're doing, do with the library?" Emma asked.

"Do you  _enjoy_ having sex with me?" Regina asked.

"Gross." Amorie cringed. "And actually, mom, ma did have a lot to do with what happened to it."

"Oh?" Regina asked.

"What did I do?" Emma asked.

"You made this town better for kids who don't have it as good as Henry and I did." Amorie said, giving her blonde mother a proud grin. "You turned it into a youth centre, any kid who just wanted to hang out in a safe space or needed to get away, needed to talk...There were kids who wouldn't have had a meal every day if it weren't for you."

"Oh." Emma said, her eyes suddenly teary. She blinked and looked away, taking a breath and trying not to let her emotions show.

"Everyone always said that this town got better when you guys got together and the constant trouble stopped. Life got peaceful." Amorie shrugged. "Everyone in town is happy, most of the time anyway. Something or other happens now and again but no life is perfect."

Regina gave Emma a proud grin matched only by their daughter's, and Emma gave her a smile as Regina wrapped an arm around the blonde's waist.

"I'm proud of you." Regina said.

"I haven't done anything yet. Besides, you're gonna help, apparently." Emma shrugged.

"I can be proud of you in advance." Regina shrugged and kissed Emma's cheek. The sheriff made a soft grumbling sound and rolled her eyes.

"Are we going in there or what?" Amorie asked.

"Yes." both her parents answered at the same time, getting an eye roll from their daughter as she went over to the door and opened it, waving a hand to guide them inside.

"Belle? We need- Oh my god!" Regina had begun, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Belle sitting up on the counter, her skirt hiked up around her hips and her head thrown back as Ruby's face was buried in her neck, one hand on the back of Belle's head, buried in long, cascading brown locks, while the other hand was...nowhere that could be seen.

That is, until Belle jumped at Regina's outburst.

"Regina!" she exclaimed as she looked behind her to see who was standing there. "I'm sorry...I was- we were just-"

"I have a fiancée dear, I know what you were  _just_." Regina rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath. "Every time I walk into this goddamned shop."

"Hey Rubes." Emma said.

"Hey Em." Ruby squeaked.

"Since when are you two a thing?" Regina asked curiously.

"Since you two pulled your heads out of your asses." Ruby shrugged. "And I figured if you can do that long enough to be together, then just about anything is possible."

"Excuse me?" Regina asked in indignation.

"She's joking." Belle rolled her eyes at Ruby and slapped her shoulder lightly for laughing at Regina's face.

"I have no time for jokes, we have a situation on our hands." Regina crossed her arms.

"What's going on?" Belle asked, her eyes going to Amorie. "Who's this?"

"She's uhh." Emma stumbled. "It's a long story."

"Wait." Ruby's ears perked up as she walked around the counter and towards Amorie. "You smell familiar."

"God, that never stops being weird." Emma shook her head.

"Do I know you?" Ruby asked. Amorie couldn't help but chuckle.

"Know me? You're the reason I learned what tequila tastes like." she said.

"I don't think that narrows it down, dear." Regina teased.

"Regina?" Belle asked, the rest of the question visible in her eyes. The former queen sighed.

"Belle, Ruby, this is...Amorie..." she said. She waited for the gasps of shock, but they didn't come. Instead, Belle started laughing.

"Oh come on, Regina." she said in between giggles. "I know magic is crazy sometimes but you don't expect us to believe that a baby can grow into a twenty something adult in a matter of hours."

"She's from the future, genius." Regina rolled her eyes.

"Nice save." Belle nodded. "But I still don't believe you're not trying to get us back for that one time we made you believe you accidentally swallowed a magic bean as opposed to a jelly bean."

"First of all, I'm never drinking with you two again, second of all-"

"She's telling the truth." Ruby spoke up, having so far not taking her eyes off of Amorie throughout the whole exchange. "That's where I know her from. Her scent. It's Amorie. I was just a little unsure because, well, a person's scent alters slightly between being a baby and being an adult. I'd be able to tell easier if it wasn't such a sudden change."

"I bet the change of scent has something to do with the diaper." Emma said.

"Ma!" Amorie cringed.

"She's right." Ruby shrugged. "Sorry kid."

"Okay so Amorie has...time travelled? Into the past?" Belle asked.

"Yes."

"Okay...why?"

"Oh, right." Emma sighed. "Apparently things go to shit in the Enchanted Forest in like twenty years."

"It takes twenty years? As opposed to the usual twenty minutes?" Ruby asked.

"Things got better, but then they got bad again." Amorie said. "We only find out by chance."

"How do you find something like that out by chance?" Ruby asked.

"Henry and I realm hop." Amorie shrugged. "It's not as big a deal in the future as it is now."

"That's scary." Ruby said.

"No, what's scary is going to the palace you think belongs to your parents and finding Rumpel-fucking-stiltskin sitting on the throne, wearing your mother's high-heeled, thigh high boots."

"Rumpelstiltskin?!" Belle and Ruby exclaimed in shock.

"My boots?!" Regina's eyes went wide and flashed with rage.

Emma just started laughing.

"It's not funny!" the other three women yelled at her.

"I'm sorry." the blonde wiped at her eyes. "I just can't get the image of him in those boots out of my head."

"Ignoring her." Belle turned to Amorie. "What do you mean Rumpelstiltskin is on the throne?!"

"He took over, forcefully." Amorie said. "Some crazy lady called the black fairy is helping him."

"Oh no...not her." Belle's eyes went wide.

"You know her?" Emma asked. Belle gave her a dreadful look and a nod.

"Rumpel told me about her...ages ago." Belle shook her head. "I thought she was dead. We both did."

"She must have found him." Amorie said. "We're just not sure how Rumpel managed to get to the enchanted forest."

"Yeah." Emma said. "All we know is that he's out of town. How did he manage to get in?"

"I have no idea." Belle shrugged.

"Do you still have the scroll with the spell to cross over the town line?" Regina asked.

"I sealed it up just like you told me." Belle shrugged. She pushed her hair behind her ears before she crouched down, picking up a book from a low shelf in the counter and pulling out a book, opening it up to fish a key out of a cut-out space for it.

"And no one can find that key?" Regina asked in concern, stepping closer to examine the magic used to seal the safe that Belle was revealing now by moving the painting behind her away.

"Even if they did, the key is enchanted with the same blood magic, just like you showed me." Belle said. "No one but me can use it."

"Alright." Regina nodded. The younger girl turned and pushed the key in the lock. Suddenly, the safe and the key started glowing with a distinct purple hue as Belle turned it in the lock. The door clicked and unlocked, swinging open slightly. Belle looked at Regina, subtly searching for approval. Regina ran her hand gently over the door and nodded.

"The seal is strong. There's no way around it beyond the way it's meant to be opened." she said. "Good job, Belle."

"Thanks." the younger brunette gave her a small smile. She reached into the safe and picked up the small scroll wrapped in red velvet. "Here it is."

She handed it gently to Regina, who picked it up and examined it as well.

"What are the chances it could be a decoy?" Emma asked.

"Impossible." Regina shook her head. "This is the exact same one I gave her. The one I got from Robin. It wouldn't have worked for him if it were a decoy."

Emma nodded. "You recognise it then? The magic in it?"

"Yes." Regina nodded. "It's the right one."

"Then how-"

"Wait." Amorie spoke up, getting her mothers' attention as she stepped up closer to Regina and took the scroll in her hands gently. "Of course... _ugh_ I'm such an idiot."

"No you're not." her mothers jumped in. She rolled her eyes, looking up at Regina.

"I know this spell because...well because we used it. Some time in the future." she said.

"What did we use it for?" Regina asked. Amorie gulped.

"I can't believe I didn't think about it." she sighed. "We brought down the barrier around the town line for good."

"What?" Emma asked.

"It was years ago. I was a little kid when we did it, it was when Henry wanted to go to college and travel around. The town took a vote because, well, a lot of kids his age wanted to go see the world. So everyone voted to finally bring the barrier down for good." Amorie explained "I remember it, I was...maybe five? You put the scroll in my hands and held me out by the town line. You needed really strong magic and the only thing strong enough to ensure it went right was...well...our magic, the three of us."

"So anyone could leave." Regina said.

"And anyone could come in." Emma added.

"Rumpelstiltskin must have snuck in." Amorie shrugged. "I can't believe I forgot about it. I was just a kid, I got so used to the town being open to everyone…"

"It's okay." Regina placed a hand on her shoulder. "We have our answer now."

"Wait." Belle looked at Amorie. "Rumpel...does he...come back...for me?"

"I don't know." Amorie shrugged. "What I do know is that no one ever saw him around town. Or at least if they did they never said anything. But you're safe...You and Ruby...you're still together in the future."

"We are?" Belle asked, her eyes falling onto Ruby, who immediately lit up.

"And still as gross." Amorie muttered under her breath, getting a chuckle from Emma.

"Well, now that we know how he got in, let's go the future and get him  _out_ of the Enchanted forest!" Emma said.

"And out of  _my_ boots!" Regina said, pulling her jacket tighter around her and marching out of the store, ignoring the snickers coming out of Ruby and Emma.

* * *

"Why is Rumpel wearing mom's boots?" Henry asked.

"I don't know, I don't care, I want him out of them" Regina griped in her spot on the couch.

"So you two are just going to frolick off to the future?" Zelena asked. "What about the kids?"

"I'm right here." Henry said.

"Yeah, me too." Adult Amorie said as she rocked the baby version of herself. "See?"

Zelena rolled her eyes. "You really are Emma's daughter."

"Glad we're not questioning that, can we move on?" Emma said. "Zelena, you can watch them. Besides mom and dad will help."

"Uhm, I love you both." Zelena said towards her niece and nephew. "But I'm not babysitting while your parents play Marty McFly."

"Hey, you did see that movie!" Henry grinned at her.

"I took your suggestions seriously." Zelena shrugged.

"Back to the point." Regina said, grabbing their attention again. "Zee, we really need all the help we can get."

"The last time I held a baby in my hands, I was going to sacrifice it." Zelena said. "You really want me to take care of your infant daughter?"

"I'm a toddler!" Adult Amorie complained.

"Don't you have godparents?" Zelena asked. "Oh gods, they didn't make  _me_ your godmother did they? I can't see that going well."

"No, you're not my godmother." Amorie rolled her eyes at her teasingly. "And I can see why."

Zelena stuck her tongue out at her adult niece and Emma groaned.

"We're getting nowhere." she sighed, flopping down on the couch next to Regina. The former queen moved to rest her back against the couch and look at Emma.

"We still need to pick out Amorie's godparents." she said. "And if we're going into a dangerous situation…"

Emma sighed. "We need to do it now in case something happens to us."

"Do you two need a minute?" Zelena asked. Emma dropped her head into her hands and Regina gave her sister a gentle nod. Zelena nodded, turning to the adult version of her niece and holding her arms out to take the baby version, who cooed as she was passed off to her aunt. "Hello little one, come, let's go play in the garden while your parents deliberate."

"I'll come with you." Henry said, getting a nod from his aunt and following her out with one last lingering look towards his mothers.

The adult version of Amorie lingered by the door, unsure if she should follow her aunt and brother or stay with her parents. Emma finally pulled her head back up, staring at the future version of their daughter for a moment.

"What do we do?" she asked.

"what?" Amorie asked, uncertain what her mother meant.

"In the future...or well...in  _your_ past. What did we do? Who did we pick?" she asked.

"Emma…" Regina began softly.

"I don't know what to do, Regina." the blonde sighed, desperation obvious in her eyes. "it's killing me that we even need to have this discussion. The idea that we won't see that little baby girl turn into...well…"

Emma gestured to Amorie and the brunette dropped her arms at her sides in mild defeat, approaching the versions of her mothers that looked so different in her eyes, yet exactly the same. She looked from one mother to the other, until Regina finally looked over from Emma and into her eyes, giving her a nod.

"Who did we pick?" she asked.

"Aunt Ruby and Aunt Belle."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Please review :) And as always if you'd like to show some love in other ways you can always share this fic with whoever you think might enjoy it, or maybe [Support Me on Ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z0DG4O)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I feel like I have this conversation with you guys every few chapters and then I just do it again. Let's just agree that I'm a bad person and am no good at keeping up with my own life.
> 
> I do have a couple of explanations though. I spent a month with migraines every day, I couldn't get a word out of me (I couldn't even look at my computer) and that same month work pulled me into overtime for four weeks straight. Then I had a vacation to London with my sister and then the Christmas insanity happened. It all took...a lot...out of me emotionally. Not to mention that good ol' reliable seasonal depression.
> 
> I really am genuinely sorry it took me this long. But I'm here! You guys really do keep me going.
> 
> I hope you guys had a good Christmas and have an amazing new year xx
> 
> Enjoy the chapter! Please review!

 

" _Aunt Ruby and Aunt Belle."_

Amorie had told them who her godparents were an  _hour_ ago, and they just sat there, soaking in the information. They weren't opposed to their future selves' choice, of course not. Ruby and Belle had been there to support them through just about every speed bump (Or, well, baby bump) that they'd been through when Regina had gotten pregnant.

What had them sitting there in silence was the reality of it all crashing down on them. They knew it, just by looking at each other, that there was a very real possibility that they wouldn't come back from this. Sure, they'd faced countless foes, they'd battled Rumpelstiltskin a few times before too. But this felt different. He'd never had a whole kingdom under his rule, and he never had the help of whoever this Black Fairy was.

Emma felt it in her bones, this would be their biggest challenge yet. Regina didn't want to admit it, but she knew deep down that the blonde was right, even if Emma hadn't said anything yet.

"It...It does make sense." Emma finally spoke up.

"What does?" Regina asked numbly.

"Picking Ruby and Belle." Emma went on. "Especially...Especially with what Ruby told me."

"What did Ruby tell you?" Regina asked, her interest piqued, she looked over at her fiancée, who sighed and slumped back against the couch.

"Promise me you won't get upset." she said.

"Well is there something I need to get upset about?" Regina asked.

"I...don't know." Emma sighed. "What she told me has a little bit to do with...the past."

Regina raised her brow at her "You mean the curse?"

"Yeah." Emma nodded.

"Just tell me Emma." Regina said.

"Well...before the curse...When mom was pregnant with me...Ruby was...kinda meant to be my godmother." Emma dropped. Regina narrowed her eyes at her a little.

"Didn't she flirt with you a couple of times?"

"Regina, don't make this weirder than it has to be." Emma sighed. "That's the reason she was really excited to be my maid of honor."

"I see…" Regina nodded.

"Yeah." Emma bit her lip. "So, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"Ruby and Belle being Amorie's godparents." Emma asked.

"Who are we to question our future selves' choice?" Regina asked. "I doubt we took that decision lightly."

"Yeah." Emma nodded. "Should we, like, invite them to dinner or something to ask?"

"I don't think we have the time, dear." Regina sighed.

"Okay...I'll tell Ruby tomorrow." Emma said. Regina looked off, not really focusing on anything and clearly stuck in her own mind for a moment before she looked back up at Emma, who looked at her with a curious brow raised.

"Actually." The former queen began. "Let me do it."

"Oh...kay." Emma said. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"That's alright." Regina said, leaning over and kissing Emma's lips softly. "I got this."

Emma smirked. "You always got it."

"I've trained you well." Regina teased as she got up. "Now come on, let's get dinner ready."

"Right behind you, babe."

* * *

The next morning, Regina walked into the mostly-empty diner bright and early to find Ruby nursing a coffee at the counter.

"Good morning." she said, nearly startling the younger brunette.

"Shhhhhhhhhh." the werewolf shushed, picking up her coffee mug and chugging the rest of the warm drink down. She took a deep breath and let out a contented sigh and then turned to face Regina, turning her palms up and her hands in her direction. "Now you may speak."

"Good morning." Regina repeated, trying not to let her amusement at the younger woman's antics show.

"Good morning, Regina." Ruby said with a smirk.

"Long night?"

"Belle is into more things than I thought possible." Ruby grinned. "I might be in love."

"Well you did just find out you'll be together for the next twenty years, I wouldn't blame you." Regina said, sitting up on a stool beside Ruby. "I need to talk to you about something. It's rather important."

"For the last time, I'm not cutting Emma off of her bear claws and grilled cheese sandwiches." Ruby said. "You should accept your fiancée for who she is and what she eats. Junk food, and you."

"That was wildly inappropriate." Regina quipped.

"I'm in a good mood, what did you expect?" Ruby shrugged. "So, what's up?"

"Two things, actually. But they tie together." Regina cleared her throat and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "I had a talk with Emma yesterday, she told me what you told her when she asked you to be her maid of honor."

"About you being hot or…" Ruby trailed off.

"No." Regina rolled her eyes. "I know you think I'm hot, Ruby, the amount of times I've caught you staring at my ass before the curse broke was just downright ridiculous."

"Your ass is downright ridiculous." Ruby crossed her arms. "And if you caught me, why did you never say anything?"

"I liked the attention." Regina shrugged. "I believe we're getting side tracked."

"I believe you're right. Go on." Ruby nodded.

"I meant what you told Emma about." she bit her lip. "How you were meant to be her godmother. And how I inadvertently ruined that for you."

"Oh." Ruby deflated. "Regina, I don't-"

"I know." Regina nodded. "I know you don't hold it against me. I know there were things in the enchanted forest you were glad you forgot, at least for a short amount of time. But I'm still going to apologise. I took something away from you that wasn't mine to take. And I don't understand how so many people have it in them to forgive me, but I'm sorry, Ruby. Emma...even with how happy we are together I still look back and think that she would have had the best childhood a girl could have, if only I'd kept my emotions in check."

"If you didn't, I wouldn't have Belle. You wouldn't have Henry  _or_ Amorie. You wouldn't have Emma in your life like you do now...Hell, Regina, we don't even know if we would have had Emma  _at all._ "

"What do you mean?" Regina asked.

"Think about it. Snow only met David because she robbed him. She wouldn't have done that if you hadn't sworn revenge on her and forced her to go on the run. For all we know she would have ended up being married to some fuck-boy prince and we definitely wouldn't have had Emma." Ruby said. "The getting here might have been a little fucked up, Regina, but your actions lead to it. Also, indoor plumbing. I can't thank you enough for the indoor plumbing."

"You're welcome?" Regina shrugged.

"In case you were wondering, I  _do_ forgive you for everything." Ruby said.

"Thank you." the former queen sighed. "But...there's still something I would like to ask of you, and hopefully it will make up for my past."

"Okay…" Ruby furrowed her brow curiously. Regina worried her lip between her teeth for a moment before she took a deep breath.

"Would you be Amorie's godmother?"

Ruby's eyes went wide, her arms dropping into her lap limply.

"W-what?" she stammered.

"Emma and I would like you to be Amorie's godmother." Regina explained. "You and Belle. You both were big supporters when it came to me and Emma getting together. There's a very short list of people I trust in this world, Ruby...but you two are somewhere at the top, right behind Emma and our children. You're a part of our family even if we have no blood shared between us. Besides, if anyone's going to teach my daughter how to drink tequila, I'd rather it be someone who can drive her home safely afterwards...and if something ever happens to us, I want to know that there is someone who is as protective about her loved ones as I am to watch over her. That's you...So, what do you say?"

"I...uhm…" Ruby's lower lip quivered, and she bit down on it hard to try and keep it together.

"Ruby…" Regina said in a gentle voice. Tears spilled out of the younger girl's eyes and she let out a small hiccup before she swiftly got up off of her stool and wrapped her arms tightly around Regina in a hug. "Oh."

The former queen gently wrapped her arms around the werewolf and hugged her back, holding on to her for as long as the younger brunette needed to.

"Thank you." Ruby said.

"Is that a yes, then?" Regina asked with a small smile.

"Absolutely." Ruby chuckled tearfully. She pulled back and wiped at her eyes. "I promise, I'll be the best goddamn godmother ever."

"I never doubted it for a second." Regina smiled at her. "But it is going to come with some responsibility."

"Of course." Ruby nodded.

"With what's going on, Amorie coming from the future and everything…" Regina began. "We need to go to the future with her."

"Don't you mean back-"

"Pick a new joke." Regina cut her off, Ruby chuckling in amusement as she rolled her eyes. "Obviously, we need someone to take care of Amorie and Henry while we're gone. Snow's already promised to help but…"

"But what?" Ruby asked, worry seeping into her expression.

"It's dangerous." Regina said. "We don't know what we're up against and...We don't know if we're coming back."

"Regina...of...of course you're coming  _back_." Ruby said. The older woman shook her head.

"There's a very real possibility that something could go wrong, Ruby." she said. "As much as I'd love to ignore that possibility, doing so would just be irresponsible. We need you and Belle to be ready for it too."

Ruby gritted her teeth and nodded stiffly. "We will be. We have your backs."

"You always have." Regina smiled at her as she got up off her stool. "I can't thank you enough."

"Just promise me one thing?" Ruby asked.

"What's that?"

"Do your  _damndest_ to get back to your family." Ruby said. "It's not just your kids that will be destroyed if you're gone."

Regina gave her a smile, leaning over and pulled Ruby into a gentle hug. "I promise."

"Thank you."

* * *

"So she took it okay then?" Emma asked for the fifth time as they walked up the stairs to her mother's apartment.

"She cried on me Emma. She was elated." Regina said, smiling at the baby version of her daughter, speaking to her in a childish voice. "You're gonna have a puppy for a godmother."

"Well she did let me ride on her back once. It was fun." Adult Amorie shrugged.

"What?" Regina asked.

"And I just remembered I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Whoops." Amorie said.

"Mmhm." Regina hummed disapprovingly.

"So did you tell them we're leaving today?" Emma asked.

"They'll be here soon too." Regina nodded as they knocked on Snow's door, which opened a second later.

"Hey guys." Snow smiled at them, getting a hug from her daughter.

"Hey mom, hey dad." Emma said, going over and giving David a hug too as Snow turned to Regina

"Do you want to hug the baby or the adult version?" Regina asked as she held baby Amorie out to her.

"I'll take the baby one." Snow said taking the happy toddler in her arms and cuddling her a little. "Neil is in that stage where he's more focused on his career as a dinosaur corraler than hugging his mama. I could use some baby love."

"See I didn't have that phase because mine was horses and Mom just...took me horse riding." Amorie shrugged.

"I'm so proud of you." Regina said with a smile.

"Can we get on with this? I'm...kind of itching to go back." Amorie said with a nervous smile.

"Yeah." Emma nodded. "You okay?"

"I'm fine it's just...you know...not every day you leave your life behind to jump 20 years into the past." she shrugged. "There's people there that...you haven't...met yet."

"It's okay." Regina said. "We'll be there soon."

Amorie nodded and turned to who so far had been quiet and gnawing the life out of his lip nervously. "Hey, big brother."

"Huh? Hey." he said. She wrapped an arm around him and pulled him into her side.

"What's eatin' you?" she asked.

"I'm just...nervous." he said.

"You and me both. What's up?" she asked.

"I just...I don't know." He sighed, flipping the big empty storybook in his hands. He'd kept it when they discovered them in the author's mansion, with the hopes of helping his mother find the author and get her happy ending, but that ended up happening naturally and he just put it in his bookcase to gather dust until he figured out what to do with it. When it was time for him to write them into the future, he figured this would be the best book to use. He sighed. "I could mess this up so badly, so easily."

"You won't." Amorie said. "I believe in you."

"But what if I accidentally do something and you leave your arm behind!" he panicked.

"This isn't apparition in Harry Potter." she said. "That can only happen if you specifically write that it happens...please don't do that."

"I won't." he said, his shoulders slumping. "I just still can't believe I'll grow up to be the author."

Amorie, who was slightly taller at this age when Henry hadn't grown as tall as he was in her time just yet, leaned down and pressed a kiss to his head. "You've got twenty years to figure it out, and when it does happen, you're a lot older and a lot wiser. You'll do a fantastic job, trust me."

"Thanks." he smiled up at her.

"Consider it pay-back for all the great advice you'll give me growing up. And...that time you punched out a boy for breaking my heart." Amorie shrugged. "You're the best big brother ever."

"I punched a kid?" Henry looked at her wide eyed.

"He was a little shit." Amorie shrugged. "Tried to act all tough and punched you first."

"Oh." he smirked at her. "Did he come out worse?"

"You didn't even have a scratch on you." She said and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Stop it." He waved her off. "Come on little sis, lets get you back to your own time huh?"

"Are we late?" Ruby rushed in, Belle right behind her.

"No, we're still here." Emma said.

"Move, dog!" Zelena pushed Ruby out of the way and rushed over to adult Amorie to hug her.

"Aunt Zee!" Amorie whined as her aunt all but crushed her.

"You're a very smart beautiful young lady and I'm glad I got a glimpse of how amazing it's going to be getting to watch you grow up." she said.

"I no longer feel bad about that one time I puked on you." Amorie complained.

"Green is her colour." Emma shrugged, dodging just in time to miss Zelena's back-kick.

"Hey greenie! Lemme hug my goddamn god-daughter!" Ruby said.

"Wait your turn!"

"Oh my god." Amorie sighed.

"Wait, god-daughter?!" Snow looked rapidly between Ruby and Emma and Regina. "What?"

"I knew I forgot something." Regina sighed. "We finally picked the godparents."

"Ruby?" Snow beamed. "Who else?"

"Belle." Emma shrugged. "It makes sense since they're-"

A hand suddenly came over her mouth.

"We haven't told her yet." Ruby whispered to her, giving a big smile to snow. "Since we're really close."

" _Really_ close." Belle smirked, turning to amorie who had just been released by her aunt. "Come here you!"

"Aunt Belle!" Amorie whined again as she got wrapped up in another hug. "Baby me is literally right over there."

"And I'll enjoy every moment watching her grow up to be you." Belle said.

"Hey! I drove them home the night they conceived her let me have my goddamn turn already!" Ruby said grumpily.

"Oh alright." Belle said, pressing a kiss to Amorie's head before literally shoving her into Ruby's arms to have the life squeezed out of her.

"Can't breathe."

"Suck it up, I'm your godmother." Ruby said, not loosening her hug at all.

"You have been for twenty years." Amorie said. "Hence the tequila thing."

"I'm going to have so much fun doing that holy crap." Ruby let out a little excited squeal.

"Oh my god." Amorie sighed.

"Okay, please release my daughter." Regina said, taking baby Amorie from Snow.

"Fine." Ruby sighed before she let the adult version of her goddaughter go. She turned around to say something to Regina, but the former queen just handed baby Amorie to her and she lit up like a light bulb " _Hello_ you beautiful tiny human you."

"Puppy!" the toddler said, reaching up and grabbing Ruby's hair.

"...okay sure. I can be puppy." Ruby nodded.

"Now, you're sure you have all the details of-" Regina began and Snow held up a hand to shush her.

"I have everything." she said. "You sent me several emails with guides and tips and whatever the hell else practices you've adopted for motherhood - the only thing you've left out is some kind of weird ritual which requires animal sacrifices - which I would elect to ignore even if you did."

"If my daughter has so much as a hair missing from her head when I get home…" Regina began.

"May the gods have mercy on us all, because you won't. Yes yes, I know." Snow nodded.

"And  _you-_ " Regina turned around and pointed at Ruby and Belle. "Will regularly check on her, and Snow will show you the ropes of everything. If you're going to be her godparents, I want you ready to go at a  _moment's_ notice. Which means you need to know every detail about that there baby girl like the backs of your hands. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am." they both answered nervously.

"Good." Regina turned to look at Emma. "Anything to add?"

Emma shrugged. "Sometimes when she can't sleep I sing to her."

"What?" Snow asked. Regina just smiled at Emma endearingly. "I didn't know you sing."

"I don't do it usually." Emma said, rolling her eyes at the wide stares she was getting from everyone. She stepped up to Ruby and Belle and gently took Amorie in her arms. "But she likes it, I sit in the rocking chair and sing to her. She doesn't usually care which song it is. Just make it soft and make sure she's warm and just...sing to her."

Baby Amorie grinned up at her mother, nuzzling into her neck and hugging her tightly, a response to the emotions she could feel within her blonde mother. Emma held onto her tightly for a moment and kissed her head.

"I promise we'll be back soon baby girl…" she whispered to her.

If anyone had been paying attention to the adult version of the child, they would have seen her wiping away a tear. But she managed to do it discreetly, thankful that the attention wasn't currently on her. Regina stepped up to Emma's side, wrapping one around the blonde's back and placing one gently on Amorie's.

"We love you baby girl." she said, kissing Amorie's head too, and the adult version of her had to bite her lip and stop herself from saying  _I love you too._

"We'll take good care of her." Ruby said. "And you guys will be back before we know it."

"Yes, we will." Regina nodded. "We promise."

They took another moment to hold on to their daughter before Emma sighed and moved to hand her to Ruby.

"We love you baby girl." Emma said.

"Wove you." Amorie repeated, getting another kiss on the head from each of her mothers before Emma turned to Henry.

"Kid…"

"I'll be good, I'll take care of Amorie, I'll listen to grandma and gramps and Ruby and Belle. I'll do my homework…" he turned to Regina. "And eat all my vegetables. I promise."

"And don't forget to change your damn underwear." Emma said. "Seriously you're fifteen, it's getting weird."

"Ma!" He whined as both his mothers stepped up and hugged him tightly, both giving him a kiss on the head.

"We'll take care of everything." David finally spoke up. "You two have nothing to worry about."

"In this time, anyway." Emma said. "We gotta kick ass and take names in the future."

"Yes." Regina said. "Thankfully kicking ass and taking names is something we both excel at, especially when we work together."

"Damn right." Emma said, throwing an arm over Regina's shoulders. "Ready to go show the future what we're made of?"

"I was born ready." Regina nodded, signalling to the adult Amorie to come closer and take her hand.

"We love you." Snow said.

"Good luck!" Belle said.

"Okay, here we go." Henry said, taking a deep breath and opening the blank storybook into the first page and writing into it.

_And so the Saviour, the queen, and their (adult) daughter went to the future to save the enchanted forest._

Emma's hand had been gripping Regina's tightly, and Regina's had been doing the same with Amorie. Emma had prepared herself for the same slight nausea that came with magically transporting herself anywhere…

But nothing happened.

Emma opened her eyes to see the very confused faces of her friends and parents. She looked to the side to see Regina and Amorie each popping one eye open before opening the other and looking around in confusion.

"What happened?" Snow asked.

"Nothing." Emma said.

"Did you like...come back already?" Ruby asked.

"We didn't go at all." Regina said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be here if we did." Amorie said, turning to Henry. "It must not have worked."

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I wrote it into the book like you told me to. I don't know why it didn't work."

"Urgh!" Amorie sighed, releasing her mother's hand and running a frustrated hand through her hair. "Dammit! It should have worked!"

"Woah, hey." Emma said, stepping up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, we'll get there."

"You calm down!" Amorie said. "You're not the one who's dying to get back home to her family -  _all_ of her family and my fiancée!"

" _Fiancée?!"_ Both Emma and Regina exclaimed in shock.

"Yes!" Amorie said before she deflated when she realised what she'd said. "Oh...Uhh...Whoops?"

"Whoops is right." Regina crossed her arms. "Who is this man? He better be-"

"It's not a man." Amorie said.

"Oh." Regina rolled her eyes. "Well  _she_ better be good to you!"

"Meg's fantastic, actually. You love her." Amorie shrugged. "Or at least you will when you finally meet her. Can we focus now?"

"We're not done talking about this  _Meg_ person." Regina said, turning to Emma. "What do you think?"

"I think I need to have a talk with this Meg chick and make sure-"

" _Focus!"_  Amorie groaned. "She means about us not going to the future when we should have!"

"Oh." Emma deflated. "I have no idea."

"Maybe you should talk to Isadora?" Snow suggested. "Maybe she knows what went wrong."

"Don't see any other options." Emma shrugged.

"Let's go." Regina said. "The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can go."

"You mean…" David chuckled. "Back to the f-"

"Oh my  _god._ " Amorie rolled her eyes and turned to leave the apartment. Regina turned to Ruby who was still holding baby Amorie and kissed the baby on the head.

"Would you watch her?"

"Of course." Ruby nodded.

"Let's go, before Marty McFly steals my car." Emma said, getting a laugh from David as she and Regina left the apartment after their daughter.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think and as always, if you’d like to show your thanks in another way beyond reviewing, you can donate to my ko-fi page https://ko-fi.com/bluehoneybee. I’m currently trying to fund a new laptop that will hopefully make writing a less daunting task (my current one still works but barely and poorly.)   
> Thanks and have a good New Year xx


	9. Chapter 9

The drive to the convent was quiet, but you could cut through the tension in the car with a knife. Between all three women being on edge due to their situation, and the fact that they were all picking up on each other's emotions, Emma felt like she was suffocating on it, and opening the window didn't help.

But hidden in the tense fog, Regina picked up on a twinge of sadness, and when she looked up into the rearview mirror, she saw Amorie, brow furrowed, and pressing a kiss to a small metallic object that reflected the sunlight that poured in through the window. She turned around in the passenger seat of Emma's car and looked at the adult version of her daughter.

"Amorie." she said, getting her daughter to look up at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing...I just…" Amorie sighed, and Regina reached over to cover her daughter's hand with her own.

"You know it's literally impossible for you to lie to me, right?" Regina smirked.

"Yeah kid, just talk to her. Twenty-two years should have taught you your mom doesn't give up." Emma said, trying to focus on her driving.

"I'm just...worried." Amorie sighed.

"About...Meg?" Regina asked, her eyes glancing towards the gold ring that was still mostly blocked from her sight by Amorie's hand.

"What if...What if I get stuck in the past?" Amorie asked. "What if I never see her again?"

"Hey." Regina squeezed her daughter's hand gently. "We won't let that happen. If there's anything you should know about us by now is that we always find a way."

"Yeah." Amorie nodded. "I know."

"Good." Regina smirked at her daughter playfully. "Now will you ever let me see that ring or do I have to wait twenty years?"

"Here." Amorie said with a smirk, reaching around her neck to unclasp the chain that held the ring around her neck. She held it up by the chain and let her mother hold the ring in her hand.

"Oh...my God." Regina said. "This isn't a ring. It's a tiny portable goldmine."

"Holy crap!" Emma said when she looked at it.

"Eyes on the road." Regina chided.

"Sorry." Emma said, looking back at the road. "But that rock is huge!"

"Guys." Amorie rolled her eyes.

"Well, at least we know she has good taste." Regina said before she handed Amorie the ring back.

"And a lot of money, apparently." Emma said. "If your mother's engagement ring is anything to go by, anyway."

"She's….uhh." Amorie blushed slightly. "Actually a princess."

"What?!" both her parents exclaimed.

"She's from another realm. Her mother's a queen by birth. It's a long story, are we there yet?" Amorie asked.

"Huh? Oh." Emma focused back on her driving just in time to see the convent coming up a little further up the road. "Yeah, we are."

"Thank god." Amorie sighed, barely giving Emma any time to park before she jumped out of the car.

"Easy kid." the blonde said as she cut the engine and got out of the car, Regina doing the same as Amorie started making her way towards the convent.

"Amorie slow down!" Regina said, Emma managing to keep up with her but Regina having some trouble doing so in heels.

"Wear practical footwear!" Amorie said.

"Definitely yours." Regina threw at Emma.

"We've established that." Emma threw back. "Kid, slow your roll."

Amorie did not, in fact, slow her roll. Instead, the only moment her mothers managed to keep up with her was when she was waiting for someone to open the door at the convent, the doorbell to which she rang five times in a row.

"There's no need to be rude." her mother chastised.

"I'm antsy."

"You're acting like your brother did when we were meant to find out if you were a boy or a girl." Emma said.

"I know, he never lets me live down the fact that he basically named me." Amorie said.

"If only he put as much effort in babysitting you, we'd owe your grandparents a few less babysitting nights." Regina rolled her eyes. Amorie was about to say something when they heard the sound of locks being opened in the door and she turned towards it just as it opened up to reveal one of the fairies who smiled at them.

"Hello." she said. "Can I help you?"

"Hi, can we talk to Isadora?" Amorie asked.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"It's an emergency." the youngest of the three women said. The fairy looked from her, to the equally expectant faces of the women she knew all too well to be the saviour and the queen.

"Come in, I'll let her know you're here." she said, opening the door wider, obviously realising that anything involving Emma and Regina had to be an actual, genuine emergency.

They were lead into the convent foyer and towards the waiting area in front of Isadora's office, where the fairy who was guiding them gestured towards the couch and armchairs.

"Take a seat." she said, Emma plopping down onto the couch as ungracefully as possible. Regina rolled her eyes at Emma before she sat down gently next to her and Amorie just started pacing around as the fairy knocked on the office door and disappeared behind it a moment later. They couldn't hear anything that was being said in the office - a magical feature that helped people be able to speak to Isadora freely when they needed to without fear of being overheard.

The fairy reappeared a moment later with a smile.

"She asked you to give her a few minutes to finish up with her other visitors, would you like some tea or coffee while you wait?" the fairy asked.

"No thanks." Amorie shook her head.

"I'm fine, thank you." Regina said.

"I'd kill for a cup of Joe, actually." Emma said, getting disapproving looks from both her fiancée and her daughter. "What?"

"I'll be back in a moment." the fairy said and left the waiting area and the clearly tense trio.

"You need to calm down." Emma said to their daughter.

"I'm sorry, if I threw you twenty years into the past without knowing if you'd be able to go back while the ones you love were all in a dire situation, would you be chill about it?" Amorie asked rhetorically.

"Nothing about my past twenty years ago was 'chill' kid." Emma said. "Giving yourself wrinkles isn't going to fix this."

"Gee thanks." Amorie rolled her eyes.

"Oh stop it, you two." Regina sighed. "Amorie, stop pacing like a caged lion and sit down. Emma, stop slouching, this is a waiting area not our living room."

"Fine, mom." both Amorie and Emma said with matching eye rolls. Regina sighed.

"Maybe I should travel twenty years into the past when even Henry wasn't born yet, maybe then I can have some peace and quiet." she said, giving Emma a pointed look and getting a snort from the blonde.

"You'd miss me too much." she said.

"Try me." Regina shot back.

"Her and Aunt Ruby left town for a weekend for Aunt Ruby's bachelorette party - you did nothing but text her telling her you missed her and watch all her favourite movies. You even ate a grilled cheese sandwich. Henry was sure you were dying." Amorie said.

"HAH!" Emma pointed at her.

"I did not." Regina gasped.

"Well… not yet." Amorie chuckled.

"Aww." Emma swooned and leaned her head on Regina's shoulder. "You missed me enough to eat junk food?"

"Clearly a few years of marriage drive me totally and completely insane." Regina crossed her arms. Amorie sighed and leaned back against the couch, playing with her engagement ring again.

"Well...Meg always says that people do crazy things when they're in love." she said.

"Something we can agree on." Emma said, getting a pointed look from Regina, and giving her a dopey smile back.

"Is that so? And what crazy things have you done in the name of your love for me, Ms. Swan?" Regina asked, getting poked in her side.

"For one, I let you get away with calling me Ms. Swan every now and again, even though we've come a ridiculously long way from the first time you called me that." Emma said.

"True." Regina nodded.

"And finding a place that actually serves Kale salads in this town is crazy enough." Emma chuckled. "I miss when you were pregnant and would eat all my onion rings."

"I don't, do you know what I had to do to lose all that extra weight?" Regina said.

"Is that why we were having more sex than usual?" Emma asked. "Was I your workout routine?"

"Being a mother and a mayor leaves very little free time. I had to multitask." Regina shrugged.

"Guys, I really don't want to hear this." Amorie cringed.

"Sorry." both her mothers apologised in unison. Suddenly, Isadora's office door swung open to reveal a beaming Nova and a smiling Grumpy...who never usually smiled.

"Emma! Regina!" Nova gasped and grinned at them.

"Hey Nova." Emma said as she, Regina and Amorie stood up. "What's up?"

"The most wonderful news!" Nova said, running over and hugging Emma tightly.

"Ow. You are very strong." Emma stated. "What news?"

Nova released the blonde, going over to Leroy and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Isadora's given us her blessing! We're getting married!"

"That's wonderful!" Regina smiled at them.

"Isn't it?" Nova bounced happily. "Oh, don't worry. We're waiting until after your wedding, we wouldn't want to steal your thunder."

"With my mom planning it? No one will be able to." Emma chuckled. "I'm happy for you guys."

"We both are." Regina nodded.

"We actually want to thank you two. If it weren't for the both of you kinspiring us to stand up against every single odd that was against us...we don't think we would have even had the courage to ask if we could." Nova said.

"Yeah and...uhh…" Leroy scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Emma, I wanna apologise."

"For what?" Emma gave him a curious look.

"Well, this was a couple years ago but...I did kinda punch you in the face." Leroy said.

"Oh yeah." Emma said, the memory of that night coming back to her. "Wait, didn't I punch you first?"

"Well yeah but...it was because I called Regina a whore." Leroy said, turning to the brunette. "Which I'm also sorry for. I was drunk and upset and I don't know why I said what I did. I guess I was just feelin'..."

"Grumpy?" Regina guessed. After a beat, everyone in the room broke out in a laugh.

"Yeah, I guess so." Leroy shrugged. "I really am sorry...I hope you can forgive me, I was kind of an asshole."

"Frankly there was no kind of about it." Regina shrugged. "But then again I did curse you all for twenty eight years so I suppose we're even."

Leroy gave Regina a smirk which she returned, and he held out a hand for her to shake, which she did without hesitation.

"I guess we'll see you at the wedding then." he said.

"And we'll see you at yours." Regina said, right before Nova hugged her way too tightly. The former queen hugged the fairy back before she skipped away happily, Leroy following closely behind.

"Aww, that was sweet." Amorie said.

"And awkward as shit." Emma said. "We goin' in or what?"

"Yes, we are." Regina nodded, leading the trio into Isadora's office.

"Ah, our dynamic duo." Isadora gave them a smile before she looked at Amorie, giving her a curious look for a short moment before smiling at her just the same. "And their time travelling daughter. Hello Amorie"

"Hey." Amorie said.

"God Dammit." Emma huffed. "How did it take me the longest?!"

"You were the first one to find her, it was probably just…" Regina shrugged. "For dramatic affect."

"That's very likely." Isadora nodded. "But let's leave that fourth wall alone shall we? You said you were here because of some kind of emergency? I assume it has something to do with getting Amorie back to the f- Oh my...I nearly made a reference there."

"Dammit." Emma sighed in disappointment.

"Nerd." Amorie rolled her eyes at her blonde mother before she turned back to the high fairy. "I don't know what happened. In the future, Henry's the author. He wrote me into the past. But when he tried to write us into the future here...it didn't work."

"Of course it didn't." Isadora said. "Henry is not yet the author in this time. And only the author has that kind of power."

Amorie sighed, her shoulders deflating. "I'm an idiot."

"Now now, there's no need to be so self degrading. Magic is tricky, especially time travel. It would be impossible for one person to know all there is to know about it." Isadora said gently, coming around and placing gentle hands on Amorie's shoulders. "I sense you are rather stressed about this situation."

"I jumped back twenty years, a little stress is to be expected." Amorie shrugged. "So...how do we go to the future if Henry can't write us into it?"

"Well the answer is rather simple, really." Isadora said.

"It is?" Emma asked.

"Emma." Regina rolled her eyes.

"No. I'm serious. Nothing is ever 'simple' when we're involved." Emma said.

"She has a point." Amorie said to Regina before she turned back to the white fairy. "So, lay it on us, what's the answer?"

"You have to find the author of this time, of course." Isadora said.

"You mean...the same one we were looking for before we got together?" Regina said, giving Emma a look.

"Yes, that would be the one." Isadora nodded. Emma turned to Regina.

"I told you it wouldn't be 'simple.'" she said.

"Is there anything you can do to help us find him?" Regina asked the white fairy.

"I would love to, honestly I would. But we have no idea who the current author is...or where he is." Isadora said. "There's very little I can provide you with in terms of information and tools. I'm sorry."

"Ugh, great." Amorie groaned. Regina gently put her hand on her daughter's shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly.

"Amorie, we will find him." she tried to reassure her.

"You'd been searching for him for months before you and mom got together." Amorie said.

"To be fair we only put actual effort into that for like, a few weeks." Emma shrugged.

"She has a point." Regina said with a shrug. "After that we only really...pretended to carry on with the search because…"

"Because you had your heads too far up your asses to realise your happy ending was staring at you in the face whilst stuffing hers with grilled cheese sandwiches and onion rings?" Amorie asked.

"Exactly." Regina deadpanned.

"Hey! Sometimes I shared my onion rings!" Emma complained.

"Please focus." Regina said.

"I'm trying, all this talk about my horrible eating habits is making me hungry." Emma shrugged. Amorie rolled her eyes and groaned.

"I'm going to be stuck in the past forever." she said.

"Oh quit being such a drama queen." Emma crossed her arms. "If we can break a curse, defeat a dragon, stop the town from exploding while keeping Regina alive, go to freaking neverland, move the moon, get back from neverland in one piece, stop another curse, kick the wicked witch's ass, no offence to your aunt, stop the ice queen from getting us all to kill each other, trick a chernobaug into turning himself to dust, convince some of the most evil beings on any realm to chill the fuck out, and make a baby, I'm pretty sure there's nothing we can't do. We'll find the author or my name isn't Emma freakin' Swan."

Regina blinked at her fiancée before she turned to her daughter. "Frankly if your mother can fry an egg without setting the kitchen on fire-"

"Hey!"

"Nothing is impossible." Regina finished off.

"As long as you two are determined." Amorie shrugged. "Where do we even start?"

"That's….a good question." Regina sighed.

* * *

"I'm confused." Henry said.

"Welcome to my life, kid." Emma slouched against the couch, getting an eye roll from Regina who was sitting next to her. Henry ignored his blonde mother to look at the adult version of his sister.

"I thought you said that I was the author." he asked.

"Yeah, in the future." Amorie said. "In my time you've been the author for about two years now. But in this time…"

"You're a high schooler." Emma shrugged. "You haven't gotten your author powers yet kid."

"So I can't be the one to write you guys into the future." Henry nodded in understanding.

"Exactly." Regina said. "So we need to find the person who can."

"Where would we even start?" Amorie asked. "Do you guys know anyone who might be a lead?"

"Well...we thought we did back when we started the search." Emma shrugged. "But August the kid forgot being August the adult."

"Somehow I don't think Gepetto would let us try again." Regina said, looking at the floor awkwardly.

"Why not?" Amorie asked.

"Your mother kind of...yelled at him."

"It was a very stressful time for me." Regina defended herself.

"I know, I understand." Emma said, rubbing Regina's shoulder gently. "If only we knew where he got all his information at least, maybe we could start there."

"We can't exactly look into his past." Amorie sighed, sitting down on the armchair next to her parents.

"Wait…" Henry said, his brow furrowed like he was thinking really hard. "Isn't there...a way we could do that?"

"Look into someone's past?" Regina asked.

"Yeah." Henry nodded at her.

"Wait." Emma said, getting everyone's attention turned on her. "Dreamcatchers."

"Come again?" Amorie asked.

"Dreamcatchers." Emma repeated, sitting up and turning to Regina. "Remember when your mom wanted to frame you for Archie's murder?"

"Ugh, yes." Regina rolled her eyes.

"We used a dreamcatcher on Pongo because he was the only witness." Emma said.

"A dog's testimony nearly landed me in serious trouble." Regina said. Emma sighed and scooted closer to her and took her hands gently.

"We've come a long way from that." she said to her gently, pressing a kiss to one of her hands. "But maybe we can use the dreamcatcher on August. Kid or not, his past is still the same. Maybe he can still help us...even if he doesn't know it yet."

"Worst case scenario he grows up dreaming of owning a motorbike." Regina shrugged, getting an eye roll from Emma.

"Well, it's the only lead we have." Amorie shrugged.

"I'll get a dreamcatcher from Belle." Emma said as she got up. "In the meantime, can someone make lunch or something? I'm starving."

"Ditto." Henry said.

"Me too." Amorie said. Regina rolled her eyes and groaned.

"I suppose I'll have to do it then hmm?" she crossed her arms and looked pointedly at the three of them.

"Thanks babe, love you." Emma said, kissing her cheek before she got up and left the room, leaving Regina to roll her eyes at her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hope you guys liked the chapter! Please don't forget to review! if you’d like to show your thanks in another way beyond reviewing, you can [Support Me on Ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z0DG4O).


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday everybody! Before you guys read on to the chapter, I have something I'd like to share with all of you.
> 
> As Fanfiction authors, we don't get any money or royalties out of what we do. We write because our heart demands it. But as a result we get something that's worth more than all the money in the world. We form friendships that can last eternity with our betas, and with those of our readers who we're lucky enough to meet over social media. Across oceans and over mountaintops we build a love between us that can never be erased.
> 
> I had the beautiful opportunity to form such a friendship with a wonderful woman and author named Jamie, who is a big fan of When Magic Collides and as well as all my other fics. She's been one of my biggest supporters since I started writing and I'm glad to have been able to meet her over facebook.
> 
> On Thursday 10th January, in the early hours of the morning, Jamie honoured me in such an incredible way that I can't help but want to share it with all of you.
> 
> So everyone, please join me in congratulating Jamie and her husband, and welcoming to the world a beautiful baby girl, little Regina-Amorie!
> 
> I wish you all the happiness in the world baby girl. You'll make us proud xx

"You're looking for a what?" Belle asked, an incredulous look on her face as she looked up at Emma.

"A dreamcatcher!" Emma said again, her voice slightly muffled because her head was in a box. She pulled out of it and looked down from the ladder she'd climbed up in the back room of the pawn shop.

"Aww, is mama having twouble sleepin'?" Ruby asked, cooing at baby Amorie in her arms who giggled and grabbed at Ruby's hair.

"Puppy!" Amorie said.

"Kid, you need a new word." Ruby sighed, switching arms and rocking her a little. "I thought you said she takes a nap after lunch."

"I said she takes one I didn't say she goes down without a fight." Emma said.

"Backtracking." Belle rolled her eyes. "Why do you need a dreamcatcher?"

"Oh no, Amorie isn't having nightmares is she?" Ruby asked in concern, holding the baby close to her protectively. "She gets to skip nap time if-"

"She's not having nightmares." Emma sighed as she pulled at another box on the shelf to look there. "You let her skip nap time and Regina will become  _your_ living nightmare."

"Noted." Ruby said, rocking Amorie gently again.

"The answer to my question?" Belle asked. Emma sighed and pulled her head out of the second box.

"Dreamcatchers, when combined with magic, let you see the memories of whoever you hold it over." she explained. "I used it once to see Pongo's memories."

"Did that son of a bitch tell you where he hid that bone?!" Ruby blurted out.

"What? No." Emma gave her a weird look. "And don't swear around my baby!"

"Emma, the only word she's said in the past three hours is 'puppy' I highly doubt she's suddenly going to learn how to say-"

"Bish." Amorie said, clapping her hands in Ruby's face.

"Uh oh." Ruby muttered, getting a pointed look from Emma.

"You know Regina's gonna roast you alive now, yes?"

"Yes." Ruby sighed.

"I'll plead for your life on behalf of our amazing sex life." Belle said.

"Gross." Emma rolled her eyes and shoved her head back in another box.

"Gee, thanks." Ruby gave Belle an eye roll.

"Whatever happened to you two taking it slow anyway?" Emma said from inside the box.

"She said 'faster baby, please'." Ruby chuckled.

"If you weren't holding a baby right now I'd throw a book at you." Belle said.

"Ahh, true love." Emma faux-swooned. "God dammit!"

She pulled her head out of the box too fast and hit her head on the shelf above her. "Ow! Son of a-"

"Bish!" Amorie cried again gleefully.

"Yeah, that." Emma groaned again as she rubbed the back of her head.

"What were you screaming about before you concussed yourself?" Ruby asked.

"Ugh. I'm just frustrated." Emma sighed.

"I'm sure a head injury isn't going to help." Belle said.

"I'm fine. I'm just like 99% sure Gold had a dreamcatcher in here." Emma sighed.

"Well in the  _shop._ Yes." Belle nodded. "But I'm not about to keep unpredictable magical artifacts in a bloody  _cardboard box,_ Emma."

"Wait what?!" Emma gave her a wide-eyed look. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because you barged in here like you owned the place and didn't say 'please.'" Belle crossed her arms. Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying very hard to keep it together.

"Belle, would you _please_  tell me where you keep all the magical artifacts?" she asked.

"Well since you asked  _nicely…_ " Belle smirked and turned around, going out of the back room and into the main shop.

"If I do have a concussion I may kill your girlfriend." Emma said.

"Eh, your bark's worse than your bite." Ruby waved her off. "And your bark's more of a whine to begin with."

"It is not!" Emma whined.

"You just proved my point for me."

"Is this what you're looking for?" Belle walked back in with a dreamcatcher in one hand, the other resting on her hip.

"Well If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck…" Emma shrugged.

"And quacks like a duck." Ruby said, poking Amorie in her belly gently "quack quack!"

"Bish!" Amorie repeated again, pushing Ruby's face away a little bit by the nose.

"Does she not like ducks?" Ruby asked.

"You better hope to God she forgets that word or Regina will make a fur coat out of you." Emma said.

"What is she, best friends with Cruella De Vil?" Ruby laughed.

"Yes."

"Oh…"

Emma rolled her eyes, taking the dreamcatcher from Belle's hand as it was handed to her. "Thanks Belle."

"You're welcome." Belle said as Emma moved to take her baby daughter from Ruby.

"Awww, no more aunt Ruby time?" the werewolf pouted.

"Why, so she can learn a few more words?" Emma teased. "Besides, I don't think you're ready to experience feeding time just yet if we can help it."

"Hmph." Ruby scoffed and crossed her arms petulantly. "You just want her all to yourself!"

"Well, you know, she is my daughter." Emma rolled her eyes.

"But you have two of them now!" Ruby said. "And the older version doesn't poop her pants."

"And this version doesn't sass me worse than her mother." Emma chuckled.

"Bish!" Amorie said as she pulled on Emma's ear.

"Ow!" the blonde groaned. "Well at least she didn't until you came along."

"Sass is an art and one must have more than one mentor in her life." Ruby said. Emma rolled her eyes.

"I'm taking my daughter home before you corrupt her further." she said.

"Wait!" Ruby said, reaching out her arms. "Lemme say bye bye!"

"Dear god." Emma sighed, handing Amorie back to Ruby, who hugged her gently.

"Bye bye my sweet angel." she said. The brunette child wrapped her arms around Ruby's neck, grabbing her hair gently again.

"Bye puppy." Amorie said, getting a squeak from Ruby in response as the werewolf, with some difficulty and hesitation, let Emma take her daughter back.

"I'll see you guys later." Emma said.

"Bye Emma, bye Amorie!" Belle waved at the two as Emma left the room, Amorie waving at Belle from over her shoulder. "She's so sweet."

"Uh huh." Ruby squeaked. When Belle looked at her, she saw her watery eyes, and sat down on the couch next to her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I...uhm…" Ruby sniffled.

"Ruby?" Belle asked gently, wrapping an arm around the werewolf, who immediately buried her face in the crook of Belle's neck.

"I want a baby!" she said as she broke down into sobs.

"Oh no."

* * *

"Did you find it?" Regina asked before Emma was even halfway through the door.

"Yes and I also -" Emma stopped and sniffed the air. "Goddamn dude."

"Thank you, it's pasta with a parmesan cream sauce." Regina shrugged. "Dreamcatcher?"

"I'd hold it up victoriously if I weren't carrying a sleeping baby." Emma said.

"Oh, right." Regina nodded and stepped forward, gently taking a napping Amorie in her arms.

"Thank you." Emma said, holding the dreamcatcher up victoriously. "Huzzah!"

"Shhh" Regina shushed, covering Amorie's ears. "Are you insane."

"Sorry." Emma sighed, lowering her arm. "Now we just have to ask Marco to let us give it a try on tiny August."

"And if not we can-"

"We are not burning his workshop down out of spite." Emma said.

"Kill joy." Regina rolled her eyes and started rocking baby Amorie, who had woken up quietly at her mother's burst of excitement, Regina smiled at her, rocking her gently. "Mama never lets us have any fun, does she baby?"

"Bish!" Amorie giggled. Regina's eyes went wide and Emma blanched.

"Emma…"

"Ruby did it!" Emma jumped in.

"I'm going to make a fur coat out of her and roast her hairless body alive." Regina said.

"Wow. I mean I thought either one or the other but you truly never cease to amaze me." Emma shrugged.

"She does neither of those." the older Amorie came into the room, giving her brunette mother a pointed look.

"I told you to watch over lunch." Regina said.

"It's finished." Amorie shrugged. "You taught me everything I know about cooking, I can make that dish with my eyes closed."

"Something which I hope you never actually attempted." Regina said. "Let's eat, and then we can regroup and form a plan."

"I thought we had a plan." Emma said. "We're gonna go ask Gepetto to let us have one more try with August."

"Yeah." Henry's head popped out of the kitchen door, a spot of cream on his lip. "I already called him and asked. He said august would be a lot more compliant after lunch so he took him to Granny's and we can meet him at his workshop in a couple of hours."

His mothers, baby sister, and the adult version of said sister, all looked at him in silence.

"Have you been snacking on the pasta?!" Regina demanded.

"I just told you I progressed the plan by like, two steps!" Henry whined.

"Young man I better not find half my dish eaten or so help me  _God._ " Regina threatened as she walked into the kitchen.

"It was just  _one_  piece of pasta, Jesus!" He groaned.

"Don't you smart mouth me."

"Bish!" Amorie giggled.

"That goes for you too, young lady!" Regina called from the kitchen.

"I do not as yet have any concept of 'smart mouthing' mom!" the adult version of Amorie said.

"What did I  _just_ say." Regina glared at her from the kitchen door. Her eyes skipped over to Emma, who was biting her lip and doing her best not to laugh. "And what, pray tell, is so funny, Miss Swan?"

"This whole family is some kind of sitcom in the making, I swear to God." Emma chuckled.

"Oh shut up and come set the table."

"Yes dear."

* * *

"And you are a-sure this is a-safe?" Marco asked in his thick Italian accent.

"Yes we're a-sur-" Emma groaned and shook her head. "Yes, we're sure. If you're still nervous you can ask Archie, I did it on Pongo once."

"And what-a is the point of-a this?" Marco asked.

"Well we know that August can't remember being the adult version of himself. But his memories shouldn't have been completely erased." Regina explained.

"Kind of like having amnesia, I guess." Henry said.

"I see." Marco nodded.

"The dreamcatcher will show us his memories without him having to put any effort into it." Emma explained. "We'll just hold it over him and the memories will come up on the dreamcatcher like a movie."

"He won't feel anything." Regina assured the clearly concerned father.

"But he will be able to see everything?" Marco asked. "He might remember who he was before. I'm not a-sure I can explain all that."

"I'll talk to him afterwards if he needs it." Emma assured him. "I know it's a lot to ask...but he's the only one with any information about the author. And this isn't about finding Regina's happy ending anymore…"

"I assure you, that's all settled." Regina smirked and nudged Emma gently, getting a small smile out of her.

"The future is in danger. Our kids future...for all we know it could be his future too." Emma said.

Marco looked down and nodded, looking over his shoulder to the young boy who was sitting at the kitchen table in Marco's house, drawing something.

"I do not-a know much about the man he became when he came to this world with you." he said to Emma. "But if he's anything like his papa…"

"He'll do whatever it takes to help those he loves." Emma nodded, a bittersweet understanding in her heart. "If there's one thing I learned about him in the short time I knew him before the curse broke - it's that he's exactly like his father."

Marco gave her a small smile and a nod. "Well then let's a-save the future!"

"Yeah!" Henry cheered.

"What's going on papa?" little August asked, appearing suddenly behind his father and making him jump.

"Ahh! Mio Dio! Hai spaventato per dieci anni fuori da me, ragazzo!" Marco said, a hand clutching his chest as the other one went gently on his son's shoulder.

"What?" all four people around him asked.

"Nevermind." He sighed. "August, do you remember Emma, Regina and Henry?"

"Yeah." he smiled up at them. "You here to play swords Henry?"

"Uhh, I can't right now August, we actually need to ask you a favour." he said. "It's a pretty big one but, you'll be helping us do something really important."

"Cool! What is it?" he said, excited at the idea of helping his friends.

"Well, August…" Regina began, crouching down in front of the boy to be eye level with him. "Do you remember when I told you that you used to be a grown up, but you couldn't remember?"

"Yeah." he nodded and then frowned at her. "You yelled at me."

Regina sighed and nodded. "Yes, I did, and I'm very sorry about that."

"It's okay." He shrugged.

"It is?"

"Well...I didn't like when you yelled at me. But my papa says that when someone apologises for doing something wrong, and they really mean it, then you should forgive them, cause it takes a lot for someone to admit they did something wrong." he smiled at her, stepping forward and wrapping his small arms around her neck to hug her. She couldn't help but smile and hug him back.

"You're a very good boy, August." she said.

"So how can I help?" he asked, frowning again in disappointment. "I still don't remember being a grown up."

"That's okay." Regina nodded.

"Yeah August, we found a way to see what grown-up you did without you having to try and remember." Emma said, showing him the dreamcatcher. "I'm just gonna hold this over your head and it'll show us what we're looking for, okay?"

August looked at the sheriff with curious eyes which then easily looked down towards the dream catcher in her hands, trying to understand the process of what was going to happen to him.

"It won't hurt?" he asked.

"Not a bit, you can close your eyes if you want, you won't even hear anything, but we'll see it all, and we'll be able to find something really important that will help us on a mission." Emma said gently. The boy looked from her to Regina warily.

"What if it doesn't work?" He asked.

"Then we'll figure something else out." Regina answered. "I promise, this time, no yelling."

The boy extended his arm towards her, his hand balled up into a fist save for his pinky finger, which pointed out towards her.

"Pinky promise?" he asked.

"Oh boy…" Emma muttered under her breath, Henry beside her trying not to chuckle at the idea of his adoptive mother, usually so serious and mature, swearing over the joining of pinky fingers.

"Yes." Regina nodded, ignoring her fiancée and her son and extending her arm to mirror the boy's, sticking her pinky out and letting him wrap his small one around hers. "pinky promise."

The boy made a motion with his hand akin to shaking someone else's, which Regina reciprocated when she noticed what he was doing it.

"Okay." He nodded when their pinkies disconnected. "I'll do it."

He stood up straight, his arms held down tightly along his sides as if they would try to fly away if he let up by even an inch, and shut his eyes, his chin held high and ready to do whatever was necessary to aid in their mission.

Regina looked at Emma and gave her a nod. The sheriff stepped forward and held the dream catcher up over the boy's head.

Over the netting of the dream catcher, a sort of fog appeared, and then seemingly cleared to show images of August's past. But the images they were seeing now were of more recent memories – August as a boy playing with some toys his father had made him.

"It'll take us forever to back track through every memory." Emma sighed.

"Let me try something…" Regina said, hovering her hand over the images that the dreamcatcher was showing. She touched it with one finger and swiped across from left to right and suddenly the images began…rewinding.

"How did you…" Emma trailed off, looking at her fiancée curiously. Regina shrugged.

"Lucky guess? If you can do it with a smart phone you can do it with magic I guess." She said.

"Two years ago you would have bitten my head off for trying to wing it." Emma said with a fond smile.

"Two years ago I didn't know I was stuck with you for the rest of my life." Regina teased and shrugged again. "If you can't beat them, join them."

"Guys." Henry gestured to the dreamcatcher which had now stopped rewinding and was playing out a new memory, an older one. It was August walking through some dark alleyway. All the buildings around him had writing in a different language and he seemed to know exactly where he was going.

"Hey, Mister dragon?" a voice said.

"That's him." Emma said. "Grown up August."

"I'm talking to a  _dragon?!_ " August gasped.

"It's…more like a nickname for someone sweetheart." Regina explained.

"Aww." August sighed in disappointment.

The memory played out from August's point of view, showing them where he looked, what he saw.

After a few seconds of looking around, the memory showed them a body of a man lying on the floor.

August seemed to hesitate for a moment before he ran over to him and his hands appeared in his line of sight, checking his pulse. The urgency stopped there.

"Is he…" Emma trailed off.

"That…doesn't make sense." Regina said. "Zelena spoke to the dragon only a few months ago. This was  _years_ ago. He can't be dead."

"Maybe he's sleepin'" little August shrugged, his eyes still closed and not seeing the memory that's being played out.

"Uhhh…maybe?" Emma said, giving Regina an uncertain shrug, leaning over and muttering under her breath. "Stranger shit  _has_ happened."

"Shh." Regina waved her off as she watched the rest of the memory play out. August had looked around, looking around the Dragon's residence. There were a few things she recognized, which piqued her curiosity.

"I have these…" she said, getting a questioning look from Emma.

"What do you m-" she was about to ask when Regina shushed her again, her hand hovering suddenly over the dreamcatcher.

"Stop." She said, pausing the play-out of the memory.

"That's still trippy." Emma said. "Why'd you stop it?"

"Look." Regina pointed to the dreamcatcher. August was looking through the Dragon's things when he found a page with a picture of a door on it.

"That looks like one out of the storybook." Henry said.

"Yes but…I've never seen this page." Regina said.

"Me neither." Henry shrugged.

"Keep going." Regina said, getting the dreamcatcher to continue.

"Okay, you know what, you need to teach me how to do that for when I can't find the remote." Emma said.

"Hush." Regina chided, focusing again on August's memory. She watched as he folded the page up and slipped it into his bag, where the rest of the things Regina knew she currently had were.

"Wait…you said you had that stuff, right?" Emma asked.

"Yes." Regina nodded.

"Do you still have that bag?" Henry asked.

"I…I think so…" Regina said.

"You do." Marco nodded. "I gave you all his things in the bag, I didn't know what it was and I didn't trust the magic that could be in them."

"Could that be the way to the author?" Emma asked.

"I've had the answer this whole time." Regina said before she rolled her eyes. "The  _hours_ that I wasted. I could have gotten so much done."

"All's well that ends well?" Emma bumped her shoulder.

"Shut it, Shakespeare." Regina said. "Come on, we have to find that page."

"Hopefully it's not in the attic. That place is a  _mess._ " Emma chuckled, getting a glare from Regina.

"And  _who_ did I ask fifty times to clean it up?" she said.

"Oh like I don't have a job." Emma rolled her eyes.

"Guys!" Henry snapped at them, getting both of their attention on him. "Can we focus? Amorie, the future? Kinda needs saving?"

"Sorry." Both Regina and Emma muttered under their breaths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hope you guys liked the chapter! Please don't forget to review! if you’d like to show your thanks in another way beyond reviewing, you can [Support Me on Ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z0DG4O).


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday guys!
> 
> This Chapter is dedicated to Ines, a gorgeous and wonderful girl who I've recently got to know. You make me smile with just a simple text, and I'm very happy to have you in my life. ♥
> 
> Enjoy the chapter everybody! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!

"It had…" Emma groaned as she tried to push a heavy box across the floor. "...to be...the attic."

"This is why I told you to clean it." Regina said as she looked through another box across the room.

"Are you j- UGH." Emma stopped trying to push the ridiculously heavy box and sighed in exasperation. "Are you joking? There's no way  _one person_ can clear this place out alone. What do you even have in this box?"

"I'm not sure." Regina said.

"Why did you even put it up here? Why not your vault, isn't that where you keep all your magic junk?"

"It's not  _junk._ " Regina rolled her eyes at Emma. "And the vault was getting too crowded."

Emma rolled her eyes and started looking through another box while muttering under her breath. "Not easy having sex in a crowded vault, I guess."

_Thunk_ and something hit her on the back of the head. She turned around.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, looking at the plastic ball that was now bouncing around on the floor. "Did you just chuck a  _christmas bauble_ at me?"

"I was feeling festive." Regina smirked. "Henry, make yourself useful and look in the heavy box that was burdening your mother so."

"You two are ridiculous." he said, opening the box and sticking his head in it. "Uhhhh…"

"What's in there anyway?" Emma asked. Henry pulled his head out and stood straight holding up something made out of black leather.

"What the hell even  _is_ this?" he asked.

"That…" Emma tried not to drool. "Would be a corset."

"Gross." Henry said, dropping it in the box.

"Is that box full of your old evil queen clothes?" Emma asked in mild excitement as she dove into the box. Regina stepped over and pulled her back up by the collar of her shirt.

"Be careful, I'm pretty sure I enchanted that box to be bottomless." the brunette said.

"Well that would explain why it's so heavy...why do you need a bottomless box for all your  _clothes?_ " Emma asked. "And also why did you never tell me you had that corset."

Regina raised a brow at her. "Can we focus please?"

"Fine." Emma said. "But I'm not forgetting about that corset."

"Gross." Henry said, closing the box. "I agree with mom that we should focus and forget about this box completely."

"Not happening." Emma said as she dove into another box, pulling out a string of tinsel. "Why are these boxes not labelled?"

"I'll admit that storage organisation is not my strong suit." Regina said. "Is that all Christmas decor?"

"Is this a plastic garden reindeer?" Emma asked.

"That would be a yes...leave Rudolph alone." Regina said.

Emma snorted. "His nose is a light bulb."

"Emma stop fooling around with the holiday paraphernalia!" Regina chastised.

"But you have a matching Santa!" Emma laughed. "Why did you never bring this stuff out?"

"She's embarrassed." Adult Amorie walked through the attic door, making her blonde mother jump and nearly leap into the Christmas box.

"I am not." Regina said, giving her daughter a warning glare, getting only an eye roll in response.

"You are too. While I was growing up, Christmas was always your favourite time of year, you'd bake, you'd decorate you'd  _sing._  Not to mention the cheesy matching sweater photos you always made us take." Amorie said, smirking at Regina. "It was cute, Christmas was always awesome because of you."

"Aww." Emma said, wrapping an arm around her fiancée. "Babe, you gave us a family Christmas."

"Enough." Regina groaned.

"No hey, it's okay. I love it." Emma said. "I never got a Christmas like that when I was a kid, or ever, really. I always wanted everything that went into it...even the cheesy matching sweater photos."

"Well...Yeah." Regina gave Emma a small smile. "I guess it makes sense...me wanting to give you that."

"And you do...I really am the luckiest person in the universe." Emma said, dropping her head gently on Regina's shoulder and side-hugging her tightly. "I love you."

"I love you too dear." Regina said, dropping a kiss on the top of Emma's head.

"Awww." Amorie gushed.

"Gross. Can we get back to work please?" Henry said.

"Have you guys still not found the bag?" Amorie asked.

"We got a little distracted." Regina gave Emma a look.

"You're the one who keeps your corsets within reach." Emma shot back.

"Okay. Gross." Amorie covered her ears. "Why do we always lose focus?"

"Because your mother is hotter than the sun?" Emma asked.

"Aww." Regina smiled at the blonde. "You're so sweet."

"Wow." Amorie rolled her eyes. "What does the bag look like again?"

"Black, canvas...uhhh...Probably worn out from being used all over the world." Emma shrugged.

"Did either of you get a good look at it?" Amorie asked.

"We both did." Regina nodded.

"Okay, hands." Amorie held out her hands towards her mothers.

"Uhm…" Emma said, giving her daughter her hand with a look of confusion on her face.

"Okay." Regina gave Amorie her hand as well. "What are you doing?"

"Just be quiet. Close your eyes, and focus on what the bag looked like." Amorie said.

"Amorie we can't use magic without knowing  _where_ the bag is." Regina said.

"Maybe you can't." Amorie said. "Just trust me."

"Okay." Regina said.

"This is never gonna work." Henry said.

"Bet you fifty bucks I can drop it on your foot." Amorie challenged.

"You're on. Easiest fifty bucks ever." Henry crossed his arms and leaned against a pile of boxes.

"Close your eyes and focus on the bag." Amorie instructed her mothers again. They gave each other a look before doing as their daughter bade them, focusing on the image of the bag that they seen. Amorie closed her eyes as well, focusing on the connection between her and her mothers.

They could feel the magic flow through them towards their daughter, a steady flow like a stream of water...and suddenly…

_Thump_

"OW!" Henry yelped, getting both his mothers to open their eyes and look his way. They looked at the floor in front of him and there it was. The canvas bag that held all the artifacts August had collected.

"Told you." Amorie said, releasing her mother's hands and crossing her arms with a victorious smirk on her face.

"You didn't tell me it would be  _that_ heavy!" Henry argued.

"That's what you get for acting like a know-it-all, big bro." she smirked at him. "And you also owe me fifty bucks."

"Enough, you two." Regina said as Emma tried to pick up the bag.

"Ugh, fuck, this thing really is heavy what's in here?" she said, heaving it off of her son's foot and onto the floor.

"Hopefully, the page with the door on it, among other things." Regina said.

"Well someone better poof it down stairs, I am  _not_ carrying this thing." Emma said.

"You could cast a featherlight enchantment on it." Amorie said.

"Could future me do that?" Emma asked.

"Yeah." Amorie nodded.

"Great. Because I sure as shit can't. Regina?" Emma looked toward her fiancée.

"You really need to practice more, Emma." Regina advised before she flicked her hand out towards the bag and it disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

"Destination?" Emma asked.

"Dining room, figured we could spread the things inside of it out." Regina shrugged.

"Good plan, this is why you're mayor." Emma said, kissing her on the cheek before she left the room.

"That and there was literally  _never_ an election." Amorie snorted as she followed her.

"The people know stability when they see it." Regina shrugged, looking to Henry who was still rubbing his foot. "Are you okay?"

"Being wrong never hurt so much." he sighed.

"Well I suppose this should teach you not to underestimate your sister." she said. "Is it broken?"

"No." he groaned. "Just bruised...like my pride."

"Good. Come along then." Regina said, leaving the room with Henry on her tail.

"So...do you really have all your evil queen clothes in that box? Cause that'd make an awesome halloween costume." he said.

"Your mother would never let me leave the house if I put one on." Regina said.

"Gross."

"You asked." Regina shrugged.

They made their way downstairs and into the dining room, where Emma was already digging through the bag.

"Careful!" Regina chastised. "One rogue magical artifact and you could blow your hand off."

"And we know how mom feels about hooks." Henry teased.

"Not funny." he got back from his two mothers.

Emma pulled out a ball that looked like it was made of glass. "Is this a crystal ball."

"What was your first clue?" Regina asked.

"It whispered to me 'you have a future of sass coming your way'" Emma rolled her eyes and put the ball down, Regina catching it when it nearly rolled off the table.

"Watch it!" she sighed, glaring at the blonde. "Do you want to unleash unholy, vengeful spirits?"

"Why, is your mother visiting?" Emma shot back.

"Ha. Ha." Regina glared at her, gently placing the ball down somewhere it can't roll away. "I hope she  _does_ haunt your nightmares!"

"What crawled up your guys' butts?" Henry asked.

"Yeah they never fight like  _this_." Amorie said, reaching into the bag "Hang on...ah-HA."

She pulled out an amulet made out of nearly jet-black metal and a ruby in the middle of it that was  _glowing_.

"The  _fuck_ is that?" Emma asked.

"Amulet of discord. Makes even the biggest of lovers quarrel." She said, going into the kitchen and chucking it into the freezer.

"Did you just-"

" _Lower the amulet's temperature to soothe even the most heated of debates."_ Amorie recited. "Henry and I came across it once on a trip."

Emma frowned, looking back at Regina with guilt-ridden eyes. "I'm sorry I made that crack about your mom."

"Magical artifacts can be dangerous." Regina sighed, stepping up to Emma and wrapping an arm around her waist. "You're forgiven."

Regina got a kiss on her temple in response.

"Now that  _that's_ over." Henry said. "Can we sift through this stuff carefully please?"

"Agreed." Amorie nodded.

"Do we need, like, gardening gloves?" Emma asked, getting eye rolls from everyone. "What? That's a reasonable question!"

"Sure, ma." Amorie said. "But no, just handle them carefully and if something feels hot, just...drop it."

"Like it's-" Emma began with a smirk.

"If you finish that sentence I am leaving you and taking the kids." Regina threatened. Emma visibly deflated.

"You never let me have any fun." she said.

"If I didn't know you guys any better, I'd say the freezer was broken." Amorie sighed. "Focus."

"Hey what's this?" Henry said, reaching into the bag and pulling out what looked like a decorated glass pipe. "What magic does it do."

Amorie took it from his hands, studying it a second before she snorted. "The magic of marijuana."

"Throw it away." Regina said immediately.

"Oh come on it's empty and it looks cool." Emma said.

"Now." Regina said again.

"Now I'm kind of worried the dragon was just high the whole time." Emma chuckled.

"Don't tell Zelena, she's a lot more calm after her  _vision quest_ or whatever the hell." Regina waved off.

"If the Dragon shared what's in that pipe, I don't blame her." Emma laughed.

"This was probably just…payment." Amorie shrugged.

"Hey check the pockets." Emma said. "Whenever I stole crap from people's bags, stuff like letters and maps and stuff were always folded away in the pockets."

"Valuable life lesson for our children." Regina gave her a look.

"Well if they ever wanna find where a person keeps their map, yeah." Emma said.

"Uh mom?" Amorie said.

"Yes sweetheart?" Regina asked.

"Ma's right." she held up the folded page. "It was in the pocket."

"Ha!" Emma crossed her arms and grinned victoriously. "I win."

"Win...what?" Regina asked with a quirked brow.

"I…" her arms dropped. "I don't know I was just enjoying being right for once."

A gentle hand rubbed her shoulder lightly before Regina turned to Amorie and asked her silently to hand her the page. Her daughter complied, and she opened up the page to see the picture of a door.

"This is it." Regina nodded. "The author should be behind that door."

"Great." Henry said. "...How do we get him out?"

Four sets of eyes looked towards each other in confusion before Regina dropped her arms.

"God.  _Dammit._ "

"Wait! I have an idea!" Emma said, snatching the page from Regina's hand and laying it flat on the table, the image facing upwards.

"What are you doing?" Regina asked. Emma smoothed the paper out and then stepped back, a hand clenching into a fist. She gently hovered the fist above the page, very close to it, and then…

_Knock knock knock._

They waited for a moment, and when nothing happened, the brunette turned to her fiancée.

"Are...you... _kidding_ me?" Regina asked.

"What?!" Emma asked.

"Knocking?" Regina asked again.

"It was worth a shot. Do you have any better ideas?" Emma asked.

"Oh gee, Emma, I don't know, why don't you try  _ringing the doorbell._ "

"That freezer is definitely on the fritz." Amorie muttered to her brother.

"Well I  _would_ if there was one drawn on the page!" Emma said. "Hey maybe I can doodle one!"

"Do not. Try to  _doodle._ On the author's door." Regina warned her.

"Hey guys." Henry said, getting their attention. "What do you use to open a locked door?"

"A key." his mothers answered at the same time, getting a pointed look from both their children. They sighed in realisation.

"We need a key." Regina said.

"Yeah that...does make more sense than knocking." Emma said.

"Where are we even going to find the key?" Regina asked.

"I could doodle one!" Emma suggested.

"And I'm sure it would be a pretty key, Emma." Regina said. "But I don't think it will open the door."

"Well. I tried." Emma crossed her arms, getting a fond eye roll from Regina.

"Artistry aside." she said. "Where do we even start?"

"I may have an idea but…" Amorie looked at Regina. "You're not gonna be happy about it."

"Why not?" Regina asked.

"Well...where do you usually keep your stuff?" Amorie asked.

"My house." Emma shrugged.

"And the author has a…"

"Mansion." Regina's eyes turned dark. "The Author's Mansion."

"You mean our  _wedding venue?!"_  Emma's eyes went wide.

"If this whole mess screws up my wedding I am going to be  _so_ pissed." Regina growled, snatching the page off the table and storming out of the house.

"Something tells me she's already halfway there." Henry said.

"Yeah...I'm kind of scared  _for_ Rumple at this point." Emma said and then she smirked. "But god she's hot when she's mad."

"Gross!" both her children chastised her.

* * *

Getting the key to the mansion from Isadora was the easy part, a quick explanation and she was handing them the key (along with strict instructions that they were  _not_ under any circumstances to try out the bed they were hoping to spend their wedding night on. To which Emma may have responded with a disappointed 'awwww')

They drove up to the mansion, Henry already planning on making a beeline to the library with the blank story books, Amorie nodding to him when he told her.

"There are times you practically live in there in the future." she told him. "You use the blank books to document the stories you come across when you travel to different realms."

"Awesome." he smiled at her.

"We're here." Emma said as she put the car in park.

"Remind me why I let you convince me to take the bug?" Regina said as she climbed out of the yellow machine.

"My keys were in my pocket while yours were lost somewhere in the abyss of your handbag?" Emma shrugged. "Seriously who needs four sets of lipstick on them at once?"

"I like to change it up sometimes." Regina said. "Can we please focus?"

"Please." Henry and Amorie agreed.

"Okay you two check the library." Emma said. "Your mom and I will-"

"Not go within five meters of the bedroom doors." Amorie said.

"Yeah we'll be here all day if you do." Henry rolled his eyes.

"I mean, I know how to drive and you know how to hot-wire a car so…" Amorie shrugged.

"You hot-wire my bug you're grounded till you have your third child." Emma warned.

"It's insanely attractive when you get all stern and parental." Regina said. "But they're right, we don't have all day."

"Come on, the sooner we go in the sooner we find that key." Emma said. They started climbing up the steps to the mansion, and Emma opened the large wooden front door with the key. She let Amorie and Henry in first and looked to Regina, who was looking through her handbag. "Are you still looking for your keys?"

"No, I'm looking for the colour samples I brought with me. I want to see which shades go better." the brunette responded.

"Colour samples?" Emma asked before she realised what Regina meant. "This isn't exactly the time to pick out wedding colour schemes, babe."

"We need to put the order in soon if we want it to get here in time." Regina said, pulling out the colour samples and starting to enter the mansion. "Now do you want a vote or am I just making the whole thing purple?"

"Oh hell no we agreed we'd mix it up to match both our tastes." Emma said, following her swiftly.

"There's that fire I fell in love with." Regina chuckled.

"Damn right."

* * *

"Okay." Henry said as he and the adult version of his little sister entered the library. He put the page and his backpack down on a table and went towards a shelf. "Start looking for any kind of clue you can, maybe there's a book in here that the page belongs in."

"God this room feels so empty." Amorie remarked as she started looking through the books.

"Empty? Every shelf is full!" Henry said.

"Yeah but over in my time, you practically live in here. There's a permanent indent of your ass on that chair over there." Amorie pointed distractedly at an armchair. "Not to mention that one time I walked in on you getting it on with your wife on the desk."

"My  _what?!_ OW!" Henry had turned, exclaimed in shock, and subsequently dropped a heavy book on his foot (thankfully it wasn't the one Amorie dropped the bag on earlier.)

"I've...said too much." she smirked, turning her back towards her brother and trying not to giggle into the book she was pretending to search in.

"I get married?!" Henry demanded.

"You're genuinely surprised?" Amorie asked with a quirked brow.

"I mean...kind of? I mean...I don't know. I guess I just never thought about it." he shrugged.

"Of course not, you've always been too busy helping everyone else with their happy endings, you never bothered to think about your own." Amorie shrugged.

"What's her name? Is she pretty?" Henry asked.

"Hah." Amorie shook her head. "I'm not telling you."

"But you said you could!" Henry complained.

"I  _could._..whether or not I want to though is a totally different matter." the brunette girl teased.

"No fair!" Henry complained. "At least tell me if she's, like, hot or something."

"I'd do her." Amorie shrugged.

"Hey! That's my wife you're talking about!" Henry said, suddenly defensive. Amorie chuckled and stepped up to him, ruffling his hair as Emma sometimes does when she thinks he's acting cute.

"That's sweet big bro. Don't worry, she's very pretty and hot and beautiful and I've seen you legitimately drool sometimes while looking at her." she said. "Now how about we focus on fixing the future huh? Before she gives birth."

" _I'M HAVING A KID?!"_ Henry squealed, getting Amorie to snort and laugh, shaking her head.

"No, that one was a joke, I just wanted to see how badly you'd flip." she said.

"Not funny!" He complained again.

"You guys have talked about it and you both want to, just want to wait till the time is right." Amorie said.

"Well...yeah, I guess that makes sense." He shrugged. "Did I look stupid in my wedding tux?"

"You looked very handsome and like a real-life prince, big bro." she assured him. "Now how about we get back to finding this key huh?"

* * *

"Shouldn't we be upstairs helping the kids?" Emma asked as she watched Regina who was staring out onto the garden.

"Emma this is  _beautiful._ " she said, gesturing to the wide, well-kept landscape. "I don't know if I want my wedding out here or the reception."

" _Our_ wedding." Emma poked her shoulder gently.

"Right, sorry, yes." Regina nodded.

"Well...White is officiating, and she said usually with fairies they only officiate in the woods. Maybe her officiating in the woods-adjacent garden is a good compromise?" Emma shrugged.

"Smart thought." Regina nodded.

"I have them from time to time, I once decided I wanted to marry the hottest woman in town." Emma said, getting a knowing smirk from her fiancée. "Best choice I ever made."

"I dare say it was." Regina said, giving the blonde a soft kiss on the corner of her lips. "But back to this, what do you think?"

"Well it can get crazy cold in the evening here." Emma said. "So maybe it'd make the most sense to have the ceremony out here during the day and then do the reception in the ballroom. And that way you won't risk getting those killer heels of yours caught in the grass and breaking an ankle during our first dance."

"Well put." Regina rolled her eyes. "But that does make sense."

"And we can have a cute little wedding arch with all those cheesy flowers around it, and a big-ass ribbon." Emma said, moving her hands around as she described the image in her mind. Regina nodded and pulled out a notebook and pen and started writing.

"Big-ass ribbon, by one." she nodded and emphasized the note with a full-stop.

"Did you seriously just write that down?" Emma chuckled.

"Yep. I have to email all of this to your mother when we get home." Regina said. Emma stared at her for a moment.

"...You told her we were coming to the mansion didn't you?" she asked.

"Yes I did." Regina said before turning around and going back inside. "Come on, I need you to look at table-cloth swatches!"

"We have to go help the kids!" Emma said.

"Oh I'm sure they're fine." Regina waved off. "What do you think of Chartreuse?"

"...Bless you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please review! If you’d like to support me in another way beyond reviewing, you can [Buy Me A Coffee](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z0DG4O).


	12. Chapter 12

"I mean...when I said 'bless you' it was a joke but I had no idea Chartreuse looked like  _actual_ snot." Emma pointed out. "Also why are we even considering a  _green._  I was under the impression Chartreuse was a blue or...like a maroon."

"Shows what you know about colours." Regina said as she held up fabric samples against the curtains in the ballroom. "I'm looking at greens for Zelena's maid of honour dress."

"You're making Zelena your maid of honour?" Emma asked. Regina shrugged.

"I figure it's the best way to tell people that we've made amends." she said.

"Oh yeah that makes sense 'my sister and I are cool now so I let her wear a snot coloured dress to my wedding.'" Emma teased.

"It is  _not_ snot coloured!" Regina rolled her eyes.

"Seriously though, go for an emerald if she's wearing green, matches her complexion better." the blonde said.

"Well that response was genuinely surprising coming from you, but you have a point." Regina said.

"I make it a point to always keep you pleasantly surprised." Emma teased, wrapping her arms around Regina's waist from behind her and pressing a soft kiss to her neck. "Now how about we go help the kids?"

"Hang on, I need your input." Regina said.

"Things a computer nerd says when she's having sex." Emma joked, getting an eye roll from her fiancée.

"Are you done?" Regina asked.

"Sorry, yes, what is it?" Emma asked, looking at the samples Regina held in her hand.

"Do you like the eggshell, the cream, the linen, or the ivory?" the brunette asked. Emma blinked at the samples, squinting at them for a moment.

"They all look the same."

"They are  _not._ " Regina sighed in exasperation.

"Maybe I'm colourblind." Emma shrugged. "They all just look like white."

"They're all some kind of  _off-white_ or other." Regina said.

"Well...maybe this one?" she pointed at a random sample.

"The linen?" Regina made a face.

"I don't know." Emma sighed. "Which one do you like?"

"I'm caught between eggshell and ivory." Regina said.

"Go with Ivory." Emma said.

"And what are you basing your decision on?" Regina asked.

Emma shrugged "It sounds fancier."

"That's something, I suppose." Regina put the samples down. "You are not to wear ivory for the wedding I will literally  _die_ if you match the tablecloths."

"Well what colour should I wear? It has to be white." Emma shrugged.

"Go for a pearl. Or a powder...or a…" the former queen started snorted in her attempt to hold back a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Emma asked.

"You could go for a…" Regina laughed. " _Snow white._ "

"Just for that one, I'm wearing the same shade of yellow as my bug." Emma threatened. Regina immediately stopped laughing.

"I will literally divorce you five minutes after we get married." she threatened.

"Not so funny now are you?" Emma teased. "Now come on, we have to help the kids."

"Not yet, I want a closer look at that staircase." Regina said.

"Regina!" Emma chided.

"Oh I'm sure they're fine, they would have called us if they needed help." Regina said.

* * *

"Are those two ever going to show up?" Henry said as he flipped through another book.

"Don't count on it, I saw mom with table cloth fabric samples." Amorie shrugged. "It's fine we got this."

"Do we though? We've been flipping through the books for an hour." Henry sighed as he put the book in his hands down.

"Maybe we're looking in the wrong place." Amorie said. "Sometimes the answer is right in front of your eyes, so obvious that you don't realise that what you're looking for is staring you dead in the face."

"You think it's in the picture itself?" Henry asked, going over to the table where he left the page on and picking it up, unfolding it to look at the picture of the door.

"I don't know." Amorie sighed. "That's the thing about mysteries, they don't come with hints."

Henry furrowed his brow and gnawed on his lip as he looked at the page in sheer determination. Amorie focused on it as well for a moment before looking away to think, her eye catching the reflection of light bouncing off a keyhole on a desk drawer.

Henry shifted his stance, and the little reflection of light seemed to blink and fade as the page was about an inch farther away. Amorie's brow furrowed at that.

"Henry?" she asked.

"Hmm?" He hummed distractedly.

"Could you step towards that end of the desk?" she asked, pointing towards the end of the desk farther away from the drawer. Her older brother gave her an odd look, but complied silently. The light faded even more, until it was almost gone completely. Amorie looked up at the lighting, investigating whether or not it could be the shadows playing around when Henry moved, but with the chandelier being right above the desk, it would be impossible for her brother's position to affect it at all.

"Come here." she said, stepping behind her brother and manoeuvring him towards the drawer.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, confused by her antics.

"Just listen to me." she said. "I may have found something."

"What?" he asked.

"That drawer, there's a light coming out of it. The further you go away from it with the page, the more it fades...If I'm right, then it should get brighter if you get closer." she explained, positioning Henry right in front of the desk and taking the page, holding it out so the image was towards the drawer before giving it to him to hold it up.

The light from the keyhole shone brighter, like someone had left a lit torch inside the drawer.

"That's it!" Henry said. "Amorie you're a genius!"

"Tell me something I don't know." she shrugged and chuckled as he went to the drawer and opened it, pulling out a small, old-looking key.

"Did you know you're a brat sometimes?" Henry teased. She mock-gasped and frowned.

"I'm telling moms!" she threatened.

"Oh please." He rolled his eyes in Regina-like fashion. "I bet they're trying to sneak into the bedroom while we're up here bickering."

"No way, I would know if they were." Amorie shook her head.

"Gross. How?" Henry asked. His sister shrugged.

"Their magic gets stronger when they're getting it on." she said. "As I grow up they find ways to block it, I think mom learns a magic blocking spell that they put up around their room, it also sound proofs their room."

"Why would they need to-" Henry was about to ask before he realised the answer to his own question. "Gross. Don't answer that."

"But they don't currently know how to do it, they learn it in about a year or so. I could tell if they start kissing and making out let alone if they get it on." she said.

"Ugh, could you stop phrasing it like that?" he cringed. "And I feel bad for you."

"Why?" Amorie asked.

"Because they've been downstairs for an hour talking about their  _wedding._ And present you may be too young to remember or care, but every time they talk about their wedding they get all lovey dovey and into each other and they start making out and I nearly walked in on them doing it on the dining room table once because they were tasting cake samples. Pretty sure ma tried to eat one off of mom's chest." Henry cringed again.

"Yeah. Ew." Amorie made a face of disgust.

"Trust me right now, their hands are probably itching to be all over each other." Henry said.

"Well let's go get them and tell them we found the key before they-" Amorie froze and groaned. " _Eugh._ "

"They just started making out, didn't they?" Henry asked.

"Let's hurry before they get naked and I start shooting off sparks like a faulty fuse box."

* * *

"The library is upstairs right?" Regina said as they walked through the hallway of the first floor to the second staircase.

"Yeah." Emma said, looking at a door curiously. She stopped walking, and Regina was pulled back by their connected hands.

"Emma?" she asked curiously.

"Hold up a second." she said, going towards the door. Regina inspected it carefully. It was large, about as tall as the others in the mansion, but this one was a double door in the middle of the first floor, making the room seem...important.

"You said we have to go help the kids." Regina reminded her.

"We will, I just wanna take a look." the blonde said as she pushed down the handle and pushed the door open. She peeked inside. "Woah…"

"Emma?" Regina said as the sheriff walked into the room.

"Regina come in here, look at this!" her fiancée urged her. The mayor sighed and stepped inside, looking around to find that she was standing in...the master bedroom.

"Oh my God." she said softly. "It's beautiful."

A floor to ceiling bay window, a fireplace in front of an antique chaise lounge, and to top it all off, a four poster canopy bed with curtains around it. All standing on pristine floor boards and accented with white shag rugs in front of the chaise and under the bed.

"Yeah…" Emma said distantly. "It really is."

Regina raised a brow at the way her fiancee sounded so far-off and deep in thought and looked at her. "Emma?"

"I just…" a small smile graced her features. "It just kinda dawned on me that the next time we come into this room…"

Emma turned to look at her, her eyes bright and excited and so full of emotion that it nearly knocked Regina off her feet. "...You'll be my wife."

Regina's heart nearly leapt out of her chest, and her eyes suddenly turned dark and lustful, and before Emma knew it, her fiancée's lips were pressed up against hers in a blur of heat and passion, her hands all over her wantonly.

The blonde felt herself being pushed back towards the bed by Regina, until her heels hit the footboard. But she pushed back, getting a confused groan come from the brunette and making her pull away.

"What's wrong?" Regina asked, breathless.

"Not the bed." Emma shook her head, leaning in and kissing Regina deeply again. "I wanna save that one for the wedding."

"Emma I am not having sex on the floor." Regina said.

"The chaise." Emma suggested, pushing her jacket off of her shoulders and letting it drop on the floor before she loosened the tie-up belt around Regina's coat. She pulled the garment open and slid her arms around the brunette's waist from inside, Regina pushing it off of herself and letting it fall as her lips met Emma's with a smile while the blonde pulled her closer, lifting her off the floor just a little bit. Regina wrapped her arms around Emma's neck as the younger woman carried them towards the Chaise, sitting Regina down on it gently and kissing her deeply.

Regina's hands fell to Emma's hips and pulled her closer, until Emma's waist was being pressed against the brunette's, getting them to moan at the friction in the most delicious of places.

"God…" Emma moaned as regina's lips found that special little spot on her neck. "Do you ever feel like…like when we get going it's like electricity is shooting all over the place?"

"It's the magic." Regina sighed. "I swear if we don't figure out how to suppress it one day one of us is going to get pregnant again."

"At least this time it won't involve you throwing me against the wall and tying me up with vines." Emma chuckled.

"Wanna bet?"

" _God_ I love your kinky side." Emma moaned as Regina's hands slowly made their way down her front, caressing and teasing her way to the button of Emma's jeans before she unfastened them and slipped her hand inside, bypassing the waistband of Emma's cotton panties and past soft, blonde curls, dipping her middle finger between the wet folds and finding that stiff bud that begged for her attention, getting a soft moan from the blonde above her.

The lights flickered above them as Regina added some more pressure from her fingers. Emma didn't notice, and Regina didn't much care. It was common for that to happen during their more passionate moments, and their emotions were running high like they alway did when they talked about the wedding.

"Regina…" Emma said, moving her hips so that Regina's fingers inched closed to where the blonde needed her most. Regina was about to oblige, bringing her lips closer to Emma's as she moved her hand forward when suddenly…

_Bang bang bang._

"Moms!" Amorie shouted, sounding infuriated.

"Son of a  _bitch._ " Emma groaned as Amorie threw the door open and stepped inside. Regina looked at her wide eyed. Her hair was...massive. And it looked like it had been attacked by an army of balloons.

"Amorie?!" she exclaimed. One of the lightbulbs in the chandelier above them suddenly burst and Emma jumped, rolling off of Regina and landing on her ass on the shag rug.

"Ow…" Emma groaned. "What the  _fuck._ "

"We never got that far." Regina rolled her eyes.

"Tell me about it." Emma said, pouting at her daughter in a demand of an explanation.

"Your magic. The same magic that made me? It sends me haywire when you guys do... _that._ " she made a face.

"So it's not because your hair is full of secrets?" Emma asked.

"I hate you."

"You remember that the next time you see me changing one of your diapers." Emma rolled her eyes and stood up, carefully holding her jeans up so they wouldn't fall and make the whole thing even more awkward.

"Enough, you two." Regina sighed. "Amorie...is this really what happens every time your mother and I…"

"Sometime in the next year or so you learn to suppress it." Amorie sighed. "Clearly you haven't yet."

"Clearly." Henry said. "I could put a bag of popcorn on her head right now and it'd do a better job than mom's new microwave."

"Dude I keep telling you, do  _not_ use the popcorn button on that thing." Emma said, getting a shrug from her son.

"Junk food aside." Regina rolled her eyes. "How do we learn how to suppress it?"

"How the hell should I know, I was a baby when you guys did it." Amorie shugged.

"Sounds to me like we didn't  _do it_ that much at all." Emma rolled her eyes.

"I like this about as much as you do. I did not feel like knowing my parents were getting it on while we were looking for the key." Amorie shot back.

"Which we found, by the way." Henry held the key up. Regina gasped and grinned at them.

"Well done!" she said, coming up to Henry and giving him a kiss on the head.

"Mom!" he whined. She waved him off and moved to do the same to Amorie.

"Mom don't-"

"Ow." Regina pulled her hands back as she got shocked by her daughter's hair.

"Last time that happened, I got a concussion." Emma rolled her eyes.

"Don't remind me. Most stressful moment of my life." Regina rolled her eyes.

"And saving my life was…" Amorie trailed off.

"Literally the same moment." Regina scoffed. "Henry, grab your sisters arm."

"Uhhh okay?" Henry said, his hand closing around Amorie's wrist. Suddenly, her hair fell back into place as if it was never disturbed. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that."

"Ugh, thank God." Amorie said. "Thanks big bro."

" _De Nada."_ He smiled at her.

"Good.  _Now_ I can do this." Regina said, hugging her daughter and kissing her on the cheek, leaving a lipstick stain behind.

" _Mom!_ " Amorie whined in a very similar fashion to Henry.

"Come on, let's get home so we can release the author and get him to send us to the future." Regina said. Henry and Amorie each gave her a determined nod and left the room to head back to Emma's car. Regina was about to follow them when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, babe...about that suppressing thing…" Emma said, Regina looked back at her and smirked.

"I'll start looking through my spell books."

" _God_ I love you."

"I don't blame you." Regina sauntered out of the room, teasingly swaying her hips, knowing Emma was following her dutifully.

"Hey uh, what are we going to tell Izzy about the light bulb?" Emma asked. Regina snapped her fingers and Emma heard glass shards moving behind her. "But will the light bulb work now?"

"Nope."

"You're going to blame maintenance aren't you?"

"Yep."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please review! If you’d like to support me in another way beyond reviewing, you can [Buy Me A Coffee](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z0DG4O).


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I skipped last week but in my defence…I've had a breakdown every day this week because of work. This chapter is mostly filler and shenanigans as a result of a shitty week. I hope I can give you guys better content soon. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please let me know what you think.

As soon as they all walked into the house, they were greeted by a panicked-looking Ruby.

"Hey." Emma said, "Thanks for watching her ag-"

"Emma we have a problem." Ruby cut her off.

"Is everything okay?" Regina asked, now equally panicked.

"No. No it is not okay. Nothing is okay." Ruby said.

"Oh my God, is she hurt?!" Regina panicked.

"No." Ruby shook her head. "She's  _fucking flying."_

"Oh God not again." Emma groaned.

"It's the magic you two were sparking off earlier." Amorie rolled her eyes. "Where am I?"

"Trippy question." Ruby said. "Upstairs in your room, Belle is watching you but she's freaking out."

"I got me." Amorie said, jogging up the stairs to handle the situation.

"It's so nice that she can  _literally_ babysit herself." Regina said.

"She's still hellbent on not changing her own diaper though." Emma said. "I'm hoping she grows out of that one."

"Hey guys, now that we're not having as big of an Amorie crisis as we thought, can we go back to saving the future please?" Henry asked.

"Of course." Regina raised a brow at him. "You're very dedicated to this cause, aren't you?"

"Let's see, I become the author, I get to realm-hop for a living, and I apparently get a really hot wife at some point-"

" _What!?"_ both his mothers exclaimed.

"I absolutely want a future where I'm guaranteed to get laid." Henry nodded, getting a snort from Ruby and a glare from his mothers.

"This kid has his priorities straight!" Ruby said.

"I'll thank you not to corrupt  _both_ my children, Ruby." Regina rolled her eyes. "There's a reason the one you're only mildly allowed to corrupt is the one that's still in diapers."

"Speaking of which, I'm going to go check on her." Emma said before she turned back on her heel. "Hang on, Henry, how do you know you get married?"

"My sister jumped twenty years into the past, ma, how do you think I know?" Henry said, giving her an eye roll that reminded her way too much of her fiancée.

"I did not spend hours in pain bringing you into this world just for you to sass me, boy." Emma poked his chest and then flicked his nose when he looked down at her hand. She turned around again and climbed up the stairs to check on their baby daughter.

"If it's any consolation I find it entertaining when she gets sassed by you, it's a lot less work for me." Regina kissed his temple. "But do tone it down, dear, you're starting to sound like a stereotypical teenager."

"Okay mom." he grumbled.

"My point." Regina gave him a pointed look before she heard a shout.

"Holy shit!" Emma's voice came from upstairs.

"Oh no." Regina rushed up the stairs, Henry and Ruby on her tail. They both nearly bumped into her when she bumped into Emma, who was standing at the door of Amorie's nursery and looking up in shock.

Not only was baby Amorie floating around happily, but now  _grown up_ Amorie was floating right next to her, her legs crossed like she was sitting on the floor and watching the baby version of herself as she played with her favourite stuffed pony.

"A-Amorie." Regina tried gently, her hands going over to Emma's shoulders to steady the seemingly panicked blonde.

"Yeah mom?" Amorie answered casually, catching the stuffed pony when the baby version of herself threw it her way.

"Why are you floating?" Regina asked.

"Hmm?" Amorie looked down at them like she was confused as to which part of what she was doing was strange.

"Kid...we thought you were getting you  _down_ not...joining...yourself...up there." Emma shrugged.

"And I thought her referring to herself in the first person was trippy." Ruby rolled her eyes and looked over at her girlfriend, who still looked a little freaked out. "We're going to have our hands full."

"And our ceilings, apparently." Belle said. "At least we can train her to reach the high shelves."

"You're not training my daughter to be your lackey." Regina said sternly.

"Oh my God this really isn't the time." Emma sighed. "Amorie, could you and... _you..._ get down please?"

"Guys, would you calm down?" Amorie chuckled as she played with baby-her. "I levitate at this age when there's excess magic in my system. You have to let me just...ride it out. I'll start to slowly descend as the magic gets used up."

"Well that makes a lot of sense." Regina said.

"It does?" Emma muttered.

"Hush." Regina sighed. "But sweetheart...I'm not entirely comfortable just letting you float up there."

"Also do you make a high pitched squeaking sound when you descend, like a balloon?" Emma asked.

" _Hush._ " Regina said again in a stern voice.

"It's okay, I'll just stay up here with myself till I come down." Amorie said.

"That's a comforting idea." Regina said. "Any tips on how to handle this safely when you go back to your time?"

"Ma learns how to levitate." Amorie said. "Well, she learns it first."

"I  _what?_ " Emma scoffed a chuckle.

"What do you mean she learns it  _first_?!" Regina said, mildly offended.

"Well…" Amorie gave her mother a wary look. "You had to get over your fear of heights."

"I am  _not_ afraid of heights, I ride horses for God's sake." Regina rolled her eyes.

"Babe...you hesitate to get down when you climb up on a chair to reach something in the top cabinet." Emma pointed out.

"Oh yeah." Henry piped up. "Remember back when you guys met? You hated each other, but mom asked ma to grab the ladder and get my frisbee down from the roof, even though she hated her guts. She hated heights more."

"Aww, babe." Emma said, a grin on her face. "You tolerated me more than heights, even when you hated me the most!"

"You find that flattering?" Ruby asked.

"Kind of?" Emma shrugged. "I mean in hindsight, with the whole 'meant to be' thing...maybe Regina just had a crush on me and didn't want to admit it."

"Sure, that's it." Regina rolled her eyes before looking up at her daughter again. "So you're saying levitating is a common occurrence in your childhood?"

"Oh yeah." Amorie nodded. "It takes a lot of inner peace to be able to levitate. So it's really common now in my younger years when I have less to care about."

"I mean, if a kid doesn't even have to worry about going to the bathroom." Emma shrugged. "I'd be pretty peaceful in a diaper."

"I am not validating that statement with a response." Regina shook her head.

"As I grow up it's a lot less common though, cause life's a bitch." Amorie shrugged.

"I hear that." Ruby nodded.

"Bish!" baby Amorie giggled.

"That  _reminds_ me." Regina glared at Ruby. "You and I need to have a little talk."

Ruby gulped. "Something tells me it's not going to end in tears and hugs like our last one did."

"Hugs, no." Regina narrowed her eyes at the werewolf. "Jury's not out on the tears yet."

Ruby squeaked and tried to make herself smaller as Regina turned back to her daughter. Amorie rolled her eyes.

"When I grow up, I manage to hone it as a skill that I can do on command. It takes a lot of meditation. But I'm still prone to random floating when I'm excessively happy or excited. I literally flew in through your bedroom window to tell you guys that I got engaged. I scared the hell out of ma, Meg thought it was hilarious." Amorie explained. "Don't worry so much about it guys, you'll learn a lot in the next year."

"I think we're learning a lot now." Emma said.

"Well there you go then." Amorie shrugged. "Maybe this is where the learning experience starts."

"Maybe." Regina said. "Do be careful up there dear, it's all fun and games until either version of you breaks a bone."

"I promise mom." Amorie smiled at her. "Don't worry so much."

"I'll try." Regina said.

"Don't hold your breath though kid." Ruby teased. Regina turned and glared at her and then, like a flash of lightning, grabbed her by the ear.

"You and I need to have a word."

"Owowowowowow!" Ruby whimpered. "Belle, if you never see me again know that I love you!"

"If I never see you again - I warned you not to swear around the baby!" Belle called back. "And I love you too, I suppose…"

"My office Ms. Lucas, right now." Regina tugged at the werewolf's ear again.

"Bi-OW!" Ruby's cursing was interrupted by a yelp of pain. "How is someone so tiny so damned strong? Jesus!"

"You're not gonna try to stop her?" Henry asked Emma.

"And face that wrath myself? Hell no." Emma scoffed. "Besides, Regina's hot when she's all authoritative."

"Gross." all of the three grown-ups in the room remarked.

"Bish!" baby Amorie cheered. Emma rolled her eyes and looked up at both versions of her still floating daughter, noting that they were now at a slightly lower height.

"Kid, do me a favour, teach yourself a new word." she said.

"I'll try." Amorie chuckled.

"Thanks, we'll see you downstairs." Emma said, leading her son and Belle back down stairs where Regina had, hopefully, not skinned Ruby alive.

* * *

_**15 minutes later…** _

Henry, Belle, and Emma were standing silently in the foyer in front of Regina's home study, listening to the muffled yelling that was coming from behind the closed door, all with their arms crossed awkwardly over their chests, when Zelena walked into the house.

"Hello." she said to the three of them.

"Hi." Emma whispered back.

"Why are we all standing here?" Zelena asked.

"Mom is yelling at Ruby." Henry said.

"Why?"

"Because Ruby accidentally taught Amorie how to say 'bitch'" Emma said.

"She's twenty-two, she doesn't know how to say 'bitch' yet?" Zelena asked in confusion.

"Not future Amorie,  _baby_ Amorie." Emma rolled her eyes.

"Ah. I see." Zelena nodded, cringing when the yelling seemingly got louder, though thanks to the closed door, they still couldn't tell what exactly was being said.

_**Another 15 minutes later…** _

The door to the study opened and everyone held their breaths a little.

Ruby stepped out, her head down, and immediately went over to Belle.

"Are you okay?" Belle asked.

"She wasn't as brutal as I thought she would be." Ruby shrugged.

"Then why is your face so red?"

"Because...I didn't expect to be this turned on while being yelled at." Ruby blushed even further.

"Oh God." Belle rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry!" Ruby sighed. "It's Regina…"

"I know, I know  _'who isn't turned on by her'_ " Belle gave her girlfriend a teasing smirk. "Do you need me to take you home?"

Ruby shook her head. "I'm fine. I just…need to use the restroom for a sec."

The werewolf went off in the direction of the bathroom, with Belle on her tail.

"Was I too hard on her?" Regina asked her fiancée.

"Well there was one moment I thought you were a second away from fireballing her." Emma said. "What did you say to her anyway?"

"That she needs to be responsible and that maybe swearing isn't that big of a deal in her day-to-day life but it can get a child who doesn't understand what she's saying into quite a bit of trouble in places such as school." Regina shrugged.

"...did you have to say it so loudly?" Emma teased.

"I wanted to get my point across." Regina said, looking over to her sister. "Hi Zee."

"Hello, little sis."

"I told you not to call me that." Regina rolled her eyes.

"How did you get on with finding the author?" Zelena asked. "And where are the Amories?"

"Wow, Ruby was right this is getting trippy." Emma said.

"Big Amorie is upstairs with little Amorie." Regina said. "And we found how to get him here, we just...haven't gotten to it yet."

"Well what are you waiting for?" Zelena asked.

"For our baby to stop freaking  _levitating_ for one." Emma rolled her eyes.

"Again?!" Zelena asked.

"She did this to you, too?" Regina asked.

"Yes, I had to get up on my broom to get her." Zelena rolled her eyes. "She seemed to enjoy it so I took her for a flight around town. She went right to sleep after. Easiest way of putting her down."

"And you elected to withhold this information from me because…" Regina gave her sister a glare.

"Because you'd look at me like that." Zelena poked her sister's nose, getting Regina to pull away from her and glare at her even harder. "You have a magic baby, Regina, what were you expecting?"

"Flying isn't in our genes!" Regina exclaimed.

"Yes it is." Zelena rolled her eyes. "I fly on a broom and don't you remember when you were taking me down? You were floating at least one foot of the ground...albeit unsteadily."

"Aww, you admitted we took you down." Emma gushed.

"Well, almost anyway." Zelena flipped her hair.

"That was only happening because I was experiencing light magic for the first time, it doesn't mean anything." Regina rolled her eyes.

"Yes it does." Zelena said. "Light magic is what brings you the inner peace needed to fly."

"How do you know about this and I don't?!" Regina said, looking offended.

"I learned about it when I was in that Witches Sisterhood in Oz." Zelena shrugged. "They also taught me how to enchant something to fly. I used my broom to practice and then things got a little...well... _green._  So that's why I use the broom now, because it's the only thing I have left that can fly."

Regina shook her head. "You still should have told me."

"Us." Emma corrected quietly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily. You have enough on your plate." Zelena said. Regina sighed and looked at her for a moment.

"Apology accepted." she said. "But next time-"

"I will tell you about anything new regarding her magic." Zelena said.

"Thank you." Regina nodded.

"The baby has landed!" adult Amorie announced as she came down the stairs, holding the baby version of herself up victoriously.

"Oh thank God." Regina said, rushing over to her and taking little Amorie in her arms. "You had mommy worried."

"Boobie!" the toddler announced.

" _What?!"_ Regina's eyes went wide and then whipped over to the adult version of her daughter.

"Oh crap." Amorie groaned. "I was trying to teach myself names. I figured starting with Ruby was best because how long can I keep calling her puppy?"

"As long as you like really." Ruby shrugged.

"I didn't think about toddlers having issues with Rs at my age." Amorie sighed. "Sorry mom."

"So she's going to go around calling everyone 'boobie' now?" Emma asked.

"Mama!" Amorie said as soon as she caught sight of the blonde.

"I guess not?" Regina asked.

"Wait. give her here." Zelena said, taking the child out of Regina's arms and holding her out in front of Ruby.

"Boobie!" the toddler announced excitedly.

" _Seriously?!"_ Ruby gawked, rolling her eyes and looking at the adult version of her goddaughter. "I preferred puppy."

"I suppose this is adequate payback for teaching my daughter to say 'bitch.'" Regina shrugged.

"Bish!" the toddler repeated.

"Hah!" Ruby pointed at her accusingly.

"Boobie!" little Amorie said as she pointed at Ruby.

"Hah!" Regina mocked back.

"The child officially has more vocabulary than you do in this conversation." Zelena rolled her eyes and pulled her niece closer. "Say 'green'"

"Gweem."

"Close enough. You'll get there my little pretty." the redhead fussed over her.

"Hey, Amorie, can you say 'guys can we please get back to saving the future?'" Henry pretended to ask the toddler enthusiastically. She stared at him in wonder and silence for a moment.

"Bish."

"Agreed." adult Amorie rolled her eyes. "I'm not even two yet."

"I wasn't being serious about her saying it." Henry rolled his eyes. "But we do need to get back to it. You were hopping off the walls wanting to get back home to you fiance, whoever he is."

"Didn't I tell you it's a woman?" Amorie asked.

"Oh. right."

"Yes!" Ruby cheered, hugging the adult version of Amorie. "I've taught you  _so_ well. I bet you're a hit with the ladies like your good ol' godmother, huh kid?"

"She made the first move, I blushed and giggled like an idiot." Amorie shrugged. "She's very smooth."

"Hmm." Ruby narrowed her eyes at her.

"You did help me lose my virginity though." Amorie smile at her.

"She did  _what?!"_  Regina glared at the werewolf.

"Kid, one of these days you're going to get me skinned alive." Ruby muttered at her.

"Yeah probably shouldn't have blurted that one out."

"You think?"

"Miss. Lucas." Regina growled at her.

"No way! Nuh-uh! You  _cannot_ get mad at me for something I didn't do yet." Ruby said.

"You wanna bet?" Regina challenged.

"Emma, a little help here?"

"How old were you?" Emma asked Amorie.

"Eighteen. And I was in college. And it was...like... _really_ good." Amorie blushed a little.

"Babe, I think we can let this one go." Emma said to Regina.

"Are you serious?!" Regina glared at the blonde. "What if she said it was horrible? Or that she got pregnant?"

"Then I would have made a note in my diary to punch Ruby's lights out in about sixteen years." Emma shrugged.

"Rude." Ruby stated. "I would have given her condoms."

"It wasn't a  _guy_ what part of this gay thing is confusing to you people?" Amorie rolled her eyes.

"Oh." everyone let out.

"Sorry." Ruby shrugged. "That explains why it was so good though."

"Can we stop talking about my sex life please?"

"Can we go back to saving mine, please?" Henry held up the key to show what he meant.

"What?" Belle chuckled.

"Something about him getting a wife in the future." Regina shrugged.

"You  _dawg_." Ruby bumped his shoulder.

"We're proud of you, Henry." Belle said.

"You talk to your aunt Zee if you ever need lady advice alright?"

"Sure, as the single one." Ruby rolled her eyes.

"I've also travelled quite a bit...and had a few people warming my bed."

"Gross!" Amorie and Henry covered their ears.

"Enough. Everyone." Regina sighed. "We've gone so horribly off track we're on a different train entirely."

"Well maybe I could think if I wasn't so damn exhausted." Emma sighed, rubbing her eyes. Regina frowned and looked at the time. They'd been going non stop for ages and it was late.

"You're right." the brunette said with a sigh. "We need to get some rest, otherwise we'll be useless when we do actually get to the future."

Ruby placed a hand on Regina's shoulder and gave her a gentle smile. "Do you want me to go to the diner and grab you guys some dinner?"

"If I had the energy to cook I'd say there's no need but-" Regina said, but Ruby lifted a hand up and shook her head.

"Say no more, I got you." Ruby smiled at her. "What are best friends for?"

"You're Emma's best friend." Regina said with a teasing smirk.

"And you're her fiancée, genius, at the very least you're best friend adjacent." Ruby nudged her shoulder. "You guys go take a hot shower and relax. I'll be here soon with dinner for everyone."

"I'll give Amorie her bath." Zelena said.

"I don't need help, Aunt Zee, thanks." Amorie said.

"Not you, silly." Zelena said, rocking the younger version of amorie gently in her arms.

"Oh, right, mini me. Sorry." Amorie shrugged.

"Go on, you guys rest." Belle said.

"Thank you, all of you." Regina said.

"That's what family is for, sis." Zelena said as she balanced little Amorie on her hip.

"I'll try and get the healthiest food we have in the diner." Ruby said.

"Oh don't bother, I haven't craved a burger this badly since I was pregnant." Regina said, getting gawked at.

"That may be my fault." Emma said. "I'm seriously craving a burger. It could be radiating to Regina."

"Ugh great, now I'm craving one too." Amorie rolled her eyes.

"I'm craving one just because you guys are talking about burgers!" Henry said.

"Kid, you're always craving burgers." Ruby messed his hair up as she passed by. "Four cheese burgers?"

"Bacon on mine please?" Henry asked.

"Would you get me a root beer?" Regina asked.

"I'm falling in love all over again." Emma said, getting a wink from the brunette.

"Throw in a barf bag while you're at it?" Amorie quipped.

"Four cheese burgers, one with bacon, I'll get you all root beers and the hose for Emma." Ruby recited. "I'll be an hour at most."

"You're the best dude." Emma said.

"You'd be lost without me." Ruby grinned, digging into her pocket and then her eyes going wide. " _Shit._ Where are my keys?!"

A jingle. "You mean these?"

Ruby looked at Belle and sighed in relief. "Thanks babe."

"Who'd be lost without who?" the bookworm asked as she walked out the door.

"Have I mentioned that I love you?"

"Mmmhm."

"They are just as bad as we are." Regina said.

"Which means they're a great pair." Emma said, wrapping her arm around Regina's waist.

"Gross." Amorie grumbled. "Guys, I can feel whatever you're feeling, remember?"

"I liked her better when she was shitting herself." Emma quipped.

"Oh, eww!" Zelena exclaimed suddenly, holding baby Amorie out at arm's length and cringing. "Whatever makes you think she  _stopped_?"

"Gonna go shower." Henry ran up the stairs, obviously to avoid changing his sister's diaper.

"Uhhhhh me too!" adult Amorie followed him.

"Hey Regina I think we can save water if we share." Emma suggested, high-tailing it after her children.

"Good idea." Regina ran after her.

"Regina! You cannot abandon me with a dirty diaper like this!" Zelena protested.

"Hey Zee, will you be my maid of honor?" Regina asked, stopping in her tracks.

"Are you serious?" Zelena froze.

"Of course." Regina shrugged.

"I...I'd be honoured!" Zelena beamed.

"Wonderful, we can talk dress ideas when you're finished changing Amorie." Regina said, disappearing up the stairs.

"Of course! I'd love to! I-..." Zelena froze again. " _Wait a god-damned minute_."

"Bish!" baby-Amorie responded.

"You're telling me." Zelena sighed. "Oh come on then, you smelly little thing...let's hope the contents of your diaper aren't my favourite colour, that would ruin it for me."

* * *

"Oh man." Emma collapsed into bed beside Regina. "I had no idea Ruby was getting the monster sized burgers Granny's trying out."

"You could have stopped any time." Regina teased.

"And waste a perfectly good burger? Come on, Regina, there's kids dying in Africa." Emma said.

"And giving yourself a coronary due to high cholesterol helps them how?" Regina raised a brow at her.

"No idea." Emma sighed. "And I'm too tired to think of the kind of ridiculous response you'd come to expect from me."

"Is this what they mean when they say 'lesbian bed death'?" Regina teased again, getting Emma to snort.

"I'm sure having a daughter who starts sparking off magic when we get it on doesn't help." the blonde said.

"I've been thinking about that, actually." Regina said.

"Oh?" Emma raised a brow at her.

"Yes...and I'm wondering what would happen if only  _one_ of us didn't have magic?" the brunette asked.

"Well if one of us doesn't have magic then the other's magic has nothing to combine with." Emma shrugged. "At least I think it doesn't. Why?"

"Obviously having a suppressing spell would be ideal, but knowing that we learn it in the next year or so doesn't particularly reveal too much." Regina said. "And the idea of potentially spending a year not having sex with you is…"

"I would rather eat a box of rusty nails." Emma said.

"Exactly." Regina chuckled. "So I was thinking...what about the cuff?"

"The cuff?" Emma asked. "You mean the one that blocks magic? The one you used on Zelena when she came here?"

"Exactly." Regina nodded. "One of us could wear it. I can't be a hundred percent certain that it will work but, it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

"I agree." Emma nodded. "But I'll be the one who wears it."

"Oh?" Regina raised a brow at her.

"You've had magic for a lot longer than I have. You know how to control it better...but I think it would also affect you worse than it would me to block it." Emma reasoned.

"That's very sweet." Regina said. "But you've still got so much to develop when it comes to your magic, I don't want to stunt that for the sake of our sex-life."

"Baby, come on." Emma scoffed. "We're powerful enough to make a baby together out of magic alone, I think my magic development will be fine."

"Okay." Regina chuckled. "Either way, this will have to wait."

"Yeah." Emma sighed, laying back down and sighing thoughtfully.

"What's on your mind?" Regina asked.

"This whole future thing." Emma said. "I'm just...nervous."

"Are you worried you won't find me attractive twenty years from now?" Regina teased.

"Impossible." Emma rolled her eyes. "You and unattractive just...don't mix."

"I'm flattered." Regina smiled at her. "Then why are you nervous?"

"For a lot of reasons." Emma shrugged. "I mean it's dangerous, for one. That alone is scary enough as it is...And...We're going to meet Henry's wife, and Amorie's fiancée! I didn't really ask anything about the wife thing but...what if we meet our  _grandkid_? And we're going to find out what happens with Ruby and Belle, and Zelena...and Neal! My baby brother is all grown up where we're going and...I'm just…"

Emma stopped, and Regina could practically feel the lump that was growing in her fiancée's throat.

"Emma?"

"These past two years have gone by so fast and I loved every minute of it." Emma looked at her, her green eyes shining thanks to the tears that watered them. "And I'm going to get a glimpse at to what the next twenty years have to offer and it's more of  _this._ "

Emma took Regina's hand gently over the soft white bed sheets. "More of us. And  _our_ kids and  _our_ life together. I guess it's just really hitting me hard that I actually have a future with you and it's not all some crazy pipe dream that I had as a kid while I stayed up way past lights out at the foster home."

"Emma." Regina smiled at her, pulling the blonde's hand up in her own and kissing it gently.

"And I'm  _terrified._ "

"Why?

"Because...what if we die?" Emma dropped, getting an almost startled look from Regina as the tears started spilling out of her eyes. "What if we die and I don't get to have that with you like I'm meant to? What if I lose you now and I don't get to have that future with you?"

"Oh, darling." Regina wrapped her free arm around Emma's shoulders and pulled her closer, pulling the blonde's head to rest on her chest and wrapping her up tightly in her arms. "It's okay. We'll be okay, Emma, we always have been."

"I'm just scared." Emma said, letting out a small sob.

"You're tired, my love, you've been thinking too hard about everything and now your mind is going into overdrive and you're too exhausted to stop it." Regina reasoned. "Just take a few deep breaths Emma."

On her chest and neck, Regina could feel the hot puffs of air, matching in rhythm with the rise and fall of Emma's back as she tried her best to calm herself down. "There you go, that's good. Keep breathing, sweetheart, I've got you."

"I love you." Emma said as she choked down a sob.

"I love you too, Emma." Regina reciprocated, shifting to press a kiss to Emma's forehead before she pulled her back in and held on tightly. "And I promise you, I'll go to hell and back before I let anyone rip us apart before we have a chance to live our future together. I fought tooth and nail to get my happy ending Emma, and now that I have you I'll be damned if I let anyone take you away from me. I promise you that."

She felt Emma's arms tighten around her, and that was enough of a response from the blonde. Regina said nothing more, she just gently ran her fingers through Emma's golden locks and let the younger woman calm down in her arms.

Emma had been silent for a while when Regina finally pulled back a little to look at her, only to find that Emma had been lulled to sleep. The brunette smiled gently at her, pressing a kiss to her forehead and pulling her closer again.

"Goodnight, my love." she said gently, closing her eyes and letting herself drift off to sleep as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please review! If you’d like to support me in another way beyond reviewing, you can [Buy Me A Coffee](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z0DG4O).


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